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Biblical

Archaeol Summer 1983

Herod's

Volume 46 Number 3

Harbor at Caesarea

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The American Schools of Oriental Research & St. Mary's University of San Antonio present a

Biblical and Archaeological Graduate Study Tour of

Jordan,

Israel,

Sinai,

Cyprus

June 26 - August 2, 1984

Cost: $3,600 per person Major Faculty: Charles H. Miller and Mary K Milne

Department of GraduateTheology, St. Mary'sUniversity Guest Lecturers: ASOR Directors and active field archaeologists Graduatestudentsof ASORinstitutionsare eligiblefor six graduatecredit hoursfromtheir own institutions, if approvedby their advisors. For more information, contact the ASORCorporate Representative on your own campus or Professor Charles H. Miller, St. Mary'sUniversity, One Camino Santa Maria,San Antonio, Texas 78284, (512) 436-3310.

JSOT'Ib Publish ASOR Monograph Series

,

The American Schools of Oriental Research and JSOTPress are pleased to announce the m resumption of the ASOR Monograph Series. At least two monographs a year will be published in the areas of ASOR'straditional interests, especially biblical studies and ancient Near Eastern history and archaeology. Manuscripts are now being solicited for the fourth and subsequent numbers in the series. Submit manuscripts to: Eric M. Meyers Editor, ASOR-JSOTMonograph Series Box H.M. Duke Station Durham, NC 27706

Cover: Divers engagedin archaeologicalstudy of Herod'sharborat CaesareaMaritima.The divers are working near two of the massive stone blocks found at the seawardend of the north breakwater-the smaller of the two artificial "enclosingarms"that formed the harbor.The blocks are the remains of a significant structure,possibly a lighthouse. Artist: Lydell Jackson.

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Summer 1983

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Volume 46 Numbre 3

CRUSADER FORTIFICATIONS

VAULTS

Page 140

Page 150

Page 184

133 SEBASTOS,HEROD'S HARBORAT CAESAREA MARITIMA

155 THE JACOBAND LABAN NARRATIVEIN LIGHTOF NEAR EASTERNSOURCES

175 DECORATIVEGEOMETRIC DESIGNSIN STONE-THE REDISCOVERY OF A TECHNIQUEOF ROMANBYZANTINECRAFTSMEN

RobertL. Hohlfelder,John P. Oleson, AvnerRaban,and R. LindleyVann The authorsreporton recent excavations conductedat this important Mediterraneansite.

145 ENIGMATICBIBLE PASSAGES God Writesa Rude Letter (Jeremiah29:1-23)

William L. Holladay Jeremiah'sletter, which is also a letter from Yahweh,uses ancient letterwriting conventionsto make an importantpoint.

147 WASTHE COIN-ON-EYE CUSTOMA JEWISHBURIAL PRACTICEIN THE SECOND TEMPLEPERIOD? Rachel Hachlili and Ann Killebrew The authors evaluate the archaeological evidence for a practicethat has often been cited in supportof the suggestion that the images detectedover the eyes of the figureon the Shroudof Turinare coins.

MarthaA. Morrison A full appreciationof the story told in Genesis 29:15 to 31:55 requiresan understandingof herdingand marriage contractsand the role of household gods in the ancient Near East.

167 ENIGMATICBIBLE PASSAGES 2 Corinthians 10:13-16 Illuminated by a Recently PublishedInscription

JamesE Strange A key word in this passagehas long vexed commentators.

169 "SILVER, GOLD,AND PRECIOUSSTONESFROM HAZOR"IN A NEW MARI DOCUMENT AbrahamMalamat Highwayrobberyin the eighteenth century B:. is the subject of the letter from the Mari archivesthat is discussed in this article.

RobertHouston Smith Even if illiterate,ancient artisanswere able to execute sophisticatedlinear patternsin carvingsor mosaics by the astute use of compass and straightedge.

187 BA PORTRAIT. A Scholar and Gentleman: James Alan Montgomery

Cyrus H. Gordon Energeticand reserved,Montgomery was an important figure in Hebraic studies in the first part of this century.

DEPARTMENTS 130 INTRODUCINGTHE AUTHORS 132 LETTERTO THE READERS 1.90 BOOK. REVIEWS Cameron, The Other Gospels: NonCanonical Gospel Texts (Hedrick?? Weingreen,Introduction to the Critical Study of the Textof the Hebrew Bible (Greenspoon); Boardman,The Greeks Overseas:: Their Early Colcnies and T7ade (Leonard). 192 BOOKSRECEIVED

Biblical Archaeologist is published with the financial assistance of Zion Research Foundation, a nonsectarian foundation for the study of the Bible and the history of the Christian Church.

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST'SUMMER1983

129

Introducing the RobertHouston Smith holds the Fox Professorshipat the College of Woosterin Ohio. Since 1966 he has directed Wooster'sexcavations at Pella of the Decapolis, a major archaeologicalprogramin Jordanbeing conducted jointly with The University of Sydney,Australia, and funded largely by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National GeographicSociety. He is author of Pella of the Decapolis (The College of Wooster, 1973) and coauthor of the recent excavation report on the 1979-1981 seasons at Pella (1982).His interests also include professional ethics, American local history, religious studies, and literature. In 1981 his Patches of Godlight: The Pattern of Thought of C. S. Lewis was published by the University of Georgia Press. Martha A. Morrison is Assistant Professorof Classical and Oriental Studies and Petrie TermAssistant Professor of University Studies at BrandeisUniversity. She is the Academic Director of the Land of GerarExpedition, an archaeologicalproject sponsored by the Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She writes, "Nuzi has long been one of my major research interests, and currently I am working on the publication of over 500 Nuzi tablets, most of the remaining documents from the main mound at Nuzi."She is coeditor with David Owen of Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians (Eisenbrauns,1981),the second volume of which will appear in the fall of 1983. Rachel Hachlili and Ann Killebrew have jointly published several articles on the Jewish cemetery of the Second Temple period at Jericho.Their work has contributed to a better understandingof Jewishburial customs during this time. In respect to the coin-on-eye custom featured in this issue they state: "Wefeel that because so many of the arguments regardingthis custom and the Turin Shroudhave been based on a misunderstanding of the Jerichoevidence, it is important to state our opinion and to set the record straight by publishing all the data."Hachlili received her Ph.D. in archaeology from Hebrew University, Jerusalem.She directed the excavations at the ancient cemetery of Jericho,and is at present co-directorof the excavation at the Kazrin synagogue in the Golan Heights. She is currently engaged (with Y. Meshorer)in the project of establishing "the Reuben and Edith Hecht Museum"for Archaeology and Art at the University of Haifa. Killebrew is working on a graduatedegree in archaeology at Hebrew University. She has excavatedat Deir el-Balah,Tel Akko, Tel Miqne, Tel Beth Shan, and was co-directorat the Kazrin synagogue excavations. William L. Holladay is LowryProfessorof Old Testament at AndoverNewton Theological School in Newton

130

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

Authors Centre, Massachusetts. He is the editor of A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Brilland Eerdmans, 1971)and author of Jeremiah, Spokesman Out of Time (Pilgrim, 1974), Isaiah, Scroll of a Prophetic Heritage (Eerdmans,1978), and numerous articles. At present he is preparingthe Jeremiahvolume for the Hermeneia commentary series published by Fortress. RobertL. Hohlfelderis Professorof History at the University of Coloradoin Boulder.He has been actively involved in underwaterarchaeologyfor twenty years and from 1979 to the present has co-directedthe CaesareaAncient HarbourExcavationProject,which he says, enthusiastically, "isnow the largestof its kind in the world!' AbrahamMalamat is a leading expert on the subject of Israelite history in the biblical period. In his work he has championed a contextualist view, focusing upon the interplay between the Bible and other ancient Near Eastern source materials, in particularthe Mesopotamian documents from Mari on the Euphrates.He is a prolific writer of scholarly articles in both Hebrew and English. His extensive treatment of early Israelite history in English appearedin A History of the Jewish People, part one, "Originsand the FormativePeriod"(Harvard University Press, 1976), while a few months ago his Hebrew book appearedon Israel in Biblical Times (Historical Essays) (Jerusalem,1983). James F. Strangeholds two positions at the University of South Floridain Tampa;he is both Dean of the College of Arts and Letters and Professorin the Department of Religious Studies. His archaeologicalexperience is extensive, including excavations at Tell er-Ras,Khirbetel-Kom, Caesarea, and Khirbet Shemac. In 1982 he launched a new project- surveying Cana of Galilee and Sepphoris, the capital of lower Galilee. Dr. Strangehas coauthored severalbooks, most recently Archaeology, the Rabbis, and Early Christianity (with Eric M. Meyers;Abingdon, 1981),and has published numerous articles on the subject of biblical archaeology. Cyrus H. Gordon is Professorof Hebrew and Director of the Center for Ebla Researchat New YorkUniversity. He has made major contributions to the study of Ugaritic language, most notably his Ugaritic Textbook (Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1967), and is well known for his comparative studies on the Old Testament and the ancient Mediterraneanworld. Dr. Gordon has written extensively, for both popular and scholarly audiences, on various aspects of the ancient Near East.

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BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

131

, SOF,.

Biblical (0; Archaeologist Editor Eric M. Meyers Associate Editor JamesW. Flanagan ManagingEditor Martin Wilcox Assistant to the Editor KarenS. Hoglund Book Review Editor Peter B. Machinist EditorialCommittee

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Letter to the Readers Herod

Caesarea is thus an important archaeological site, and we are pleased to feature an article on recent work at Sebastos in this issue of BA. We think you will find "Sebastos, Herod's Harbor at Caesarea Maritima" interesting and well worth study.

Postmaster: Send address changes to ASOR Subscription Services, 4243 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Copyright ? 1983 by the American Schools of Oriental Research.

132

the Greathasbeencalled"undoubtedly the

greatest builder Palestine has ever known."In Jerusalemhe rebuilt the Temple, constructed a magnificent palace, and undertook several other projects including the construction of the three great towers he called Phasael, Hippicus, and Mariamne. By his efforts Jerusalem became one of the most impressive capitals in the eastern Roman Empire. His accomplishments throughoutthe rest of the country are also notable. Among these are the palace-fortressof Herodium and the palaces at Jericho,Betharamatha,Sepphoris,and Ascalon. He also strengthened the fortresses of Hyrcania, Alexandrium, and Masada;built small towns like Phasaelis and Cypros; and rebuilt the city of Samaria,renaming it Sebaste. His crowning achievement, however, was the construction of Caesarea Maritima and its harborfacility, which he called Sebastos. Caesareabecame one of the major cities of Palestine. It rivaled and in some respects surpassed Jerusalem. Completed in around 9 B.C.,the city was striking architecturally.It featured a temple dedicated to Augustus, a royal palace, a theater by the sea, and a mile-long thoroughfare-the Cardo Maximus-that was fifty-fourfeet wide and lined with seven hundred columns. Caesarea was significant for more than its architecture of course. It was also historically important. For instance, Paul was imprisoned there before being sent to Rome. After the destruction of Jerusalemin A.D. 70 it became the Roman capital of Palestine and the residence of the Roman procurators.It was the base of operations for the Roman armies during the Jewish revolts of A.D. 66-70 and 132-135. Origen, a prominent biblical scholar of the early church lived and taught there for twentythree years; Eusebius, the father of church history, was bishop of Caesareafrom A.D. 313 to 340. The city was capturedby the Moslems in the seventh century A.D. The Crusadersoccupied the city from about A.D. 1100 to 1265. And there are many more examples that could be listed. (Foranyone interested in this subject, I recommend Studies in the History of Caesarea Maritima, edited by Charles T. Fritsch; this book was published in 1975 by Scholars Press for the American Schools of Oriental Research and is number 19 in the series of supplemental studies to the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.)

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

Martin Wilcox Managing Editor

Herod's

StOS S6B1 Harbor at Caesarea Maritima

by RobertL. Hohifelder,John R Oleson, AvnerRaban,and R. LindleyVann n the year22 B.C.or shortly

thereafter, at a point approximately midway between modem Haifa and Tel Aviv, Herod began construction of his magnificent new metropolis, Caesarea Maritima, and its unparalleled port facility, Sebastos. The location selected for Caesarea and Sebastos offered innumerable natural problems. There were, for instance, an unstable coastline and an inadequate supply of drinking water; in addition, a current running from south to north along the shore (a longshore current) constantly carried a great deal of sediment. Despite these problems the engineers in Herod'sservice worked quickly and with consummate

until about 37 A.D. and therefore wasn't a witness to the actual construction of Caesarea and Sebastos, his texts provide a vivid and fairly complete picture of the major features of both (The Jewish War, 1.408-414;Jewish Antiquities, XV.331-341).He records a range of municipal and civic structures common to a major Roman city and provincial capital. The most important section of his description, however, is on the construction of Sebastos, which he calls the most impressive architectural fea-

ture of the new city. He tells us that the engineers literally had to carve this facility from an uncompromising coastline that was devoid of any significant topographical features such as a cape or bayfeatures that up until that time had been prerequisite for a harbor site. The building of Sebastos was also impeded by frequent, heavy storms that plagued that part of the Levantine coast. Moreover,the strong, sand-ladenlongshore current assured that erosion and siltation would be problems.

skill. By about 10 or 9 B.C.the city

and its harborwere completed. Because of the size and grandeur of Sebastos, Caesarea Maritima immediately became a major international emporium in the eastern Mediterranean- a role it was to maintain intermittently for the next 600 years. Sebastos itself had technological features found nowhere else in the world. At the time of its completion it was not only the largest Levantine harbor but also one that showed a maritime engineering sophistication that can only be called modern. Josephus on Sebastos We are most fortunate to have a detailed description of the city and port in the writings of the historian Josephus.Although he wasn't born

Aerial view of Sebastos from the west. The dark areas in the foregroundare the submerged remains of the two large breakwaters("enclosingarms")that formed the harbor. The modern harbor, shown in the upperright, is much smaller than the ancient one. Photographis used courtesy of Caesarea Museum of Kibbutz Sdot Yam.

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

133

A roughly circular harborwas created by extending two breakwaters out from the shore, which runs north-south. The south breakwater initially ran due west but curved to the north at its seaward end. The smaller and shorter north breakwaterextended out straight west to about 20 to 30 meters from the end of the south breakwater. The entrance to the harborwas thus from the north. These two "enclosing arms" were actually composite structures (and the discussion of them can sometimes be slightly confusing because the term breakwater is also applied to one part of the composite). According to Josephus,the two arms (or at least the main, southern one) were built by lowering huge stones 50 feet long, by 10 feet wide, by 9 feet deep and larger into depths of 20 fathoms. When a platform 200 feet wide finally stood above the surface of the sea, it was then divided into sections. The seawardor southwestern-western face, with a width of 100 feet, was left as a breakwater(prokumatia). A wall adorned with towers seems to have run the length of the arm. The inner portion of this wall apparently contained various support buildings constructed into it. The landward (or inner) component of the arm was finished as a loading quay, which Josephus assures us was a pleasant place to walk. At the entrance to the harbor there stood six colossi, three on either side. The three statues to the east (the port side for entering ships) stood on a huge tower. The ones to the west were supported by two upright stones. This description provided by Josephus is the only eyewitness account of an ancient harbor on the Levantine coast that has survived and is one of the most detailed among the very few that reach us from all of antiquity. Its credibility, however, would seem to be partly questionable. The engineering feats

134

recordedby Josephus (for instance, the lowering of huge stones into open water) could easily be challenged by scholars. No earlier examples of such advanced technology are known. There also was no way Josephuscould have checked the oral accounts or written reports of the harbor construction; nor would he have examined the configuration of the undersea sections of Sebastos. Yet it appears from the results of recent excava-

Josephus' of

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ancient harbor the Levantine

coast. tions that his descriptions are remarkably accurate, excepting his overestimate of water depths in the harbor (5 to 10 meters and not 20 fathoms). Underwater Explorations and Their Results Underwater explorations of the submerged sections of Sebastos began in the summer of 1960. During June of that year a pioneer effort in the field of maritime archaeology was undertaken. Edwin Link formed a team of professional divers under the direction of Charles T. Fritsch and Immanuel Ben-Dor to begin the systematic investigation of structural remains off the coast of Caesarea. Using as a base a vessel (the Sea Diver) built specifically for oceanographicresearch, the Link expedition achieved several significant results which were reportedto the readers of BA in 1961 (Fritsch and Ben-Dor 1961).Forthe first time, the precise

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

location of Sebastos was firmly established. As recently as 1950 the large bay to the south of the Herodian harbor complex had been identified as Sebastos itself (Reifenberg1950-51).Preliminary dimensions and assessments of the configuration of the port had also been advanced. Fritsch and BenDor, who were not divers themselves, were restricted in their study of the actual submerged remains. On the basis of divers' reports and artifacts recovered,they postulated that the harbor complex had been damaged by an earthquake early in its history (A.D. 130) and perhaps had not been rebuilt. Such an analysis accorded well with the testimony of Procopius of Gaza, who had reportedearly in the sixth century A.D.on the ruinous

state of the harborfacilities prior to that time and on a renovation of Sebastos by the emperor Anastasius probably shortly after A.D. 502

('Panegyricusin ImperatoremAnastasium"in Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca Prior,vol. 87, pt. 3, pp. 2817-18). Furtherunderwater investigations on the site were conducted by the Undersea Exploration Society of Israel and the Center for Maritime Studies of the University of Haifa in the 1960s and early 1970s. The most significant of these efforts was an extensive coastal survey conducted in 1975 by the Center for Maritime Studies under the direction of Avner Raban (Flemming, Raban, and Goetschel 1978). The data collected during this research indicated the presence of at least one major fault line off the coast of Caesarea, about 150 meters from the present shoreline and west of the terminus of the modern south breakwater. Tectonic activity along the coast of Israel over the many centuries since the construction of Sebastos has resulted in the compaction, slumping, or subsidence (that is, sinking) of 5 to 6 meters for all of the struc-

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Plan of the harbor complex at Caesarea Maritima.

tures seawardor west of this fault line. To the east, the process appears to have had negligible impact. This subsidence, and not a major increase in sea level since antiquity, is responsible for the submergence of significant sections of Sebastos. As we shall see, the ancient engineers could and did anticipate many of the natural problems inherent in the site that Herod selected for his city and its harbor. There was no way, however, that

they could have known of the existence of a fault line bisecting the chosen location of Sebastos. Its presence doomed the ancient harbor from the moment of its completion. Within decades, sections of it began to sink beneath the waves. A final preliminary reconnaissance of the submerged sections of the harbor facilities was undertaken in 1978 for the Joint Expedition to Caesarea Maritima in conjunction

with the Center for Maritime Studies. This survey confirmed points of archaeological interest and identified locations for future excavation (Hohlfelderand Oleson 1980). In 1979 the Caesarea Ancient HarbourExcavationProject (CAHEP)was initiated by Avner Raban and Elisha Linder,also of the Center for Maritime Studies, to complete the systematic explorations of all of the maritime

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

135

facilities. The University of Colorado joined that season as an institutional member with RobertL. Hohlfelder serving as co-director.In 1980 and 1981 excavations were conducted at various locations within the Herodian harborcomplex. During the 1981 season John P. Oleson of the University of Victoria also served as a co-directorof field work. R. Lindley Vann of the University of Marylandjoined CAHEP as the project'sarchitect. Both of these universities became institutional members of CAHEP in the spring of 1982. CAHEP continues to operate under the aegis of the Center for Maritime Studies with Avner Raban of that institution serving as project head. The following is a brief report of some of the results of this consortium's investigations of Sebastos through the 1981 season.

The entrance to this secondary harborwas immediately to the south of the tower through a chanan inner harbor, nel 20 to 30 meters wide and possibly even wider. While the tower not marked the northern limit of the mouth of the basin, the southern but conterminus was the large promontory nected to the harbor in whose lee the inner harbor had been constructed. It is possible that he describes a this enclosed basin still existed late in the first century B.C. and perhaps channel. provided one of the reasons this particular section of coastline was selected by Herod for his new 14 dating of organic marine life un- city. How long the inner harborwas covered, indicate that at the time of used cannot yet be ascertained. It the construction of Caesarea would appearfrom the pottery finds Maritima, the MediterraneanSea in the test probe along the podium extended east to the point of this that the basin enjoyed a short life. trial trench. This seawall, which exists at the foot of a stairway Pottery from the Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods of Caesaleading down from the Augustan rea'shistory was found in the upper temple, was probablythe eastern segment of an inner basin not men- strata of the trench. It may be that the whole basin had been filled in tioned by Josephusbut connected The Design and Construction to the harborhe describes by a of Sebastos deliberately during the Roman era or Linder allowed to silt up over the years. channel and the of submerged Explorations (Raban 1978). Roman Caesarea had no need for The western limit of this enstructures of Sebastos and related the vast harbor complex of the coastal buildings have confirmed closed facility was also uncovered the essential accuracy of the acby investigators from the Center for Herodian city. Herod'sidea that the Maritime Studies and confirmed by city should be the emporium for all counts of Josephus.Although his in are CAHEP.Approximately 100 meters eastern trade was not shared by the descriptions incomplete west of the test trench in the inner Romans (Hohlfelderand Raban numerous aspects, the details and the overall view that he provides harbor and 20 meters from the pres- 1981).The outer harbor and the ent shoreline, a circular tower of are not inconsistent with the secondary anchorages north and south (which are discussed below) ashlar blocks in record. was discovered emerging archaeological would have been sufficient for the The master plan of Sebastos, about 1 meter of water (see harbor needs of the Roman city. however,is far more complex than plan, number 5). From its design, The harbor dethe materials used for its construcThe original size and design of Josephus suggests. and the scribed by him is but one compomaterial ceramic inner basin can only be conjecthis tion, nent of an extensive facility. Land found during underwaterexcavatured. To ascertain its dimensions, excavations conducted by Avner tions around its lower courses, the extensive excavations would have to Raban within the Crusader fortress, tower appearsto predate Herod's be undertaken at various points within the inner harbor. Since nueast of the present shoreline about metropolis and can best be associated with an earlier settlement 80 meters, and at the base of the merous shops and restaurants for known to have existed this tourists are now in the locations of the along podium Augustan temple, uncovered the vertical face of an an- section of the Levantine coast, a where such excavations would have settlement identified by Josephusas to be conducted, such an archaeocient seawall (see harbor plan and Strato'sTower.It seems likely that south The number of plan logical survey is impossible at presbay, 6). this circular tower, and a northblocks of this wall are distinent. All one can do is estimate the south seawall that must have been guished by the presence of marine working space of the enclosed harlife to a height of about 0.20 meters associated with it, providedthe bor based on the natural configurawestern definition of the inner above the present sea level. Data tion of the coastline and the presbasin. ence of ancient structures from from this probe, including carbon-

136

There

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probably

mentioned Josephus

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

by

by

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To the left of this photographby Robert L. Hohlfelder is the Crusader quay, which was constructed of Roman columns. In the foregroundare the remains of a Roman pier.

earlier excavations. If its shape were rectangular,which is most likely given the features of the immediate area, the inner harborwould have had approximately 10,000 to 15,000 square meters of working area. Immediately to the west of this inner harbor is another basin within the outer harbor described by Josephus.It appearsto have been an ancient river outlet. The area of this basin now serves as the modern anchorage and is defined to the south by the same large promontory mentioned above and to the north by a Crusader quay constructed of Roman columns on a coastal shelf. This Crusaderquay extends east to west and then turns to the south for a distance of over 80 meters. The eastern definition of this basin in Crusadertimes was a north-south wall about 5 to 6 meters in width, which ended in a square tower approximately 20 meters west of the circular one. This square tower, directly to the north of one built on the promontory, may also have marked the entrance to some small inner mooring area within what had been the larger Herodian inner harbor.If so, it is likely that a chain would have been extended between the two towers

during times of danger to deny seaward entry to the fortress the harbor served. The promontory that marked the southern limit of both the intermediate basin and the inner harbor is the largest natural feature along this section of the Levantine coast. It may originally have served as the locus for the tower or lighthouse of Strato'sTowerand most certainly served as the final defensive position for the Crusaders of Caesarea. During this later era, and perhaps before as well, the promontory had been separatedfrom the mainland by a channel or moat cut north-south. In Crusadertimes this channel served to isolate the defenders on the promontory from attackers who had breached the fortress's outer defenses. Earlier,such a channel would have served a very different purpose. It would have been part of a system to allow siltfree water to flow into the harbor complex and deter the building up of sediment. Evidence of at least one other channel has been found, presumably cut through the promontory at the time of the construction of Sebastos (see harborplan, number 7). This channel contains grooves cut

into the rock to hold wooden sluice gates that would have controlled water flow. All such channels were designed to catch the crest of breakers smashing against the southern face of the promontory and control the entry of this "surplus"water into the harborcomplex. This water would flow towardsthe entrance of the outer harbor,creating a current within the facility that thereby retarded the silting process. Thus, during appropriatesea conditions when waves were high, the harbor could be flushed or cleansed of silt and probablyflotsam as well. Similar systems within closed basins were common to other Levantineports constructed as early as the Hellenistic Age (Raban 1980). The main component of Sebastos was the outer harbor,the facility described in detail by Josephus.The main, or south, breakwaterwas constructed from the tip of the southem promontorywest and north for a distance of about 480 meters. Its original width appearsto have been approximately40 meters at its southern segment where it joins the promontory.At its widest, it seems to have been over 60 meters,

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

137

Large block found on the eastern side of the entrance to the ancient harbor (at the seaward end of the north breakwater). This block has metal fasteners and an unusual Lshaped cutting thiat contains a hemispheric depression. Photograph is by Harry Wadsworth.

although at its northern terminus its ancient configuration may have been even wider. This end is today obscured by considerable rubble and tumble from structures that once stood there. CAHEP'sinvestigations have revealed the existence of an inner quay that has been traced for over 150 meters (see harborplan, number 12). Although only the lowest course of the quay is still in situ (the upper courses of facing stones were robbed during the Crusader era when a slightly lower sea level facilitatedsuch an activity), it is possible to estimate that the width of this structure was about 10 meters and that it probablystood from 1.00 to 1.50 meters above ancient sea level. There is also evidence of at least one rectangular loading platform constructed from the breakwateritself, obviously in-

138

tended to increase the amount of docking space affordedwithin the outer harbor (see harbor plan, number 13). Another secondary jetty or loading platform has also

been discovered extending into the harbor from the ancient shoreline (see harborplan, number 3). The external or seawardface of the south breakwaterconsists of several courses of ashlar blocks in stepped revetment surmounted by huge concrete monoliths, some in excess of 50 tons and exceeding the dimensions for such blocks offered by Josephus.It is not yet certain if these concrete blocks were moved into position and lowered into the sea, poured in place on the breakwater and then slid onto the foundation courses, or poured into wooden construction frames that had been sunk beneath the sea and allowed to harden under water. These concrete structures appearto be located on the breakwaterat the point of greatest stress-that is, where storm and winter seas would inflict the most damage (see harbor plan, number 14). These concrete blocks no doubt composed the prokumatia mentioned by Josephus.Between this external face and the inner quay would have been the wall with towers into which various support buildings had been constructed. Huge quantities of building stones and rubble, sometimes rising almost to the surface from the ocean floor about 9 meters be-

Members of the staff of the Caesarea Ancient Harbour Excavation Project (CAHEP) are shown here at work. The lower diver is using an airlift. Photograph is by Harry Wadsworth.

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

low present sea level, obscure the midsection of the breakwater.No traces of the structures mentioned by Josephushave yet been uncovered, but their presence is suggested by the amount of building debris in the area. In particular,the northern terminus of the south breakwateris distinguished by many large building stones and blocks and is considerably wider than other segments of this enclosing arm. It seems quite obvious that impressive structures of as yet undetermined nature stood there. Future investigations in this area will attempt to recover a plan of the breakwaternear its terminus. Two other features of the breakwater design should also be mentioned. Before construction began, a foundation layer of rubble, sometimes as much as 0.80 meters thick, was laid on the sandy ocean floor to stabilize the breakwaterand to prevent its undercutting by wave action. In addition, a secondary or subsidiary breakwaterwas constructed seawardor west of the main one, running parallel to the main structure'souter face for an undetermined length. It exists along the curve of the south breakwater at the point most vulnerable to damage from winter storms (see harbor plan, number 15). This secondary structure was about 5 to 6 meters wide and was made up of courses of blocks and rubble laid on a foundation like the one below the main breakwater.Investigations to date have revealed no connecting

Scale Meters 10

20

Inner Harbor

o

West Breakwater

,

FallenRubble

Tower Northwest MedievalBreakw ater

NorthMoatTower

Bosnian Mo

Tower Northeast . r P af nPlatform

MCe

r

S-Modern

Vaulted StructurE

OttomanStructure East MoatWall

South MoatTower Platform

Sluice Gate SouthwestTower Southeast Tower

RubblePaving

South Bay

Plan of the modern south breakwater.

walls between the two breakwaters. number 11), two concrete islets They were constructed independent were discovered. Excavations of one another and apparentlywere around the base of both of these intended to function that way structures in 1981 revealed the negas well. ative impression of the wooden The purpose of the secondary crossbeams that braced the constructure appearsto have been to struction frames. One of these islets features two large projections provide further protection from storm damage to the main breakfrom its upper surface separatedby water. It served to dissipate the a large grove. Perhapsthese two force of storm waves before they projections once held the base of struck the external face of the one of the colossi mentioned by south breakwater.It also would Josephus as having adorned the have reduced significantly the harborentrance. amount of spray that washed over Whether or not the islets did the prokumatia and adjacent wall support statues, it does seem likely onto the storage facilities. If so, that they delineated the western side of the harborentrance. If so, perishable cargo could have been stored with more confidence in the entry channel to Sebastos these buildings during all seasons, would have been about 20 to 30 and perhaps this permitted the meters wide ratherthan the approxloading of merchantmen in the imately 12 meters it is today.The winter. largerwidth would have been necesNear the entrance to the harsary to accommodatethe large ships bor along the northern face of the of the Roman fleet. The actual size south breakwater(see harborplan, of the harbormouth has been reduced over the centuries by the . tumbling rocks and rubblefrom the . structuresthat stood on the terminus of the south breakwater. The other enclosing arm of Sebastos'outer harborhas been 1 2 0 :?:~ designated the north breakwater.Its configuration is far more regulartoday than the south breakwaterand probably approximates its ancient form. To a great extent its superior Plan of two concrete islets adjacent to the western side of the entrance into the ancient harbor (on the northern face of the south breakwater).These may have supported the base state of preservation is because it of one of the colossi mentioned by Josephus. has always been in the lee of the

METERS SCALE 3

6'

71D

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

139

ANCIEN BREAKWATER

.

S'"

.

MODERNBREAKWATER CA

CRUSADERFORTIFICATIONS

C"...

''lA'

-a

o

oo

VAULTS

05 1

Plan of the south bay. Jet-probelines are indicated.

south breakwaterand is thus less subject to damage from the southsouthwestern storm seas. As a consequence of its more protected position, simpler building techniques could have been used and apparently were. It seems to have been constructed of stones and rubble;none of the more sophisticated maritime technology in evidence on the south breakwateris apparent. This breakwaterprotrudes from a natural rock shelf north of the Crusadercolumn-quay for a distance of about 280 meters; its averagewidth is approximately60 meters. No traces of structures for most of its length have been un-

140

covered. It may be that none existed or that their remains were obscured by later Byzantine repairs. At its terminus, however,a significant building once stood. Numerous massive stone blocks, some with lead/iron projections or grooves to receive these features, have been uncovered. At least two of these blocks also feature an unusual L-shapedcutting which contains a hemispheric depression. The exact function of these building stones and their exceptional members is unknown. It is clear, however, that a large building of some kind once adorned the end of the north breakwater,one that

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

eventually toppled seaward,or west, during an earthquake.Perhaps these blocks were once part of a lighthouse, although such a structure is not mentioned by Josephus. This section of the breakwaterwill receive further attention in future seasons of excavations. The Secondary Anchorages of Sebastos Josephusalso speaks of secondary anchorages at Caesarea Maritima but does not indicate their nature, extent, or locations. One such anchorage was clearly the area to the south of the inner-outerharborcomplex, a natural bight designated as the south bay (see the accompanying plan). It is bounded on the north by a jetty extending from the promontory that delimits the innerouter harborcomplex and on the south by a headland that is distinguished by a massive piscina (or fish tank) and extensive evidence of quarryingin antiquity; the distance between the jetty and the piscina is about 450 meters. Underwater investigations conducted in 1981 conclusively provedthat this bay never contained harborfacilities or other maritime structures. Rather, it appears that the south bay simply served as a natural anchorage throughout the long history of Caesarea Maritima, although at various times in antiquity, quantities of stones and rubble appearto have been dumped on both the jetty and headland to augment the natural protection affordedby these features. The bay itself was actually divided into two smaller coves in ancient times by a rock shelf. Both of these smaller coves served as anchorages during suitable sea conditions. When the sea was calm, ships could have moored safely in either one. When prevailing winds were from the north, the one in the lee of the promontory could serve as anchorage. If the winds blew from the south or southwest, the

other cove would have provided a safe haven. Although it is possible that lighters were used to off- and onload ships that used these anchorages, it is also likely that along the entire length of this bight a loading quay may have existed, obscured today beneath a modem dirt road. Such a facility would have served the numerous horrea, or storage magazines, that exist beneath the anthropogenic mounds in this section of the ancient city (Bull 1982). The presence of these warehouses in fact strengthens the assumption that the south bay was a secondary anchorage for the more than six centuries these buildings were in use. While commodities could easily have been moved by cart to the main inner-outer harbor complex of Sebastos, it would seem more probable that whenever sea conditions permitted, ships would have docked alongside the horrea to facilitate their loading and unloading. Moreover, miscellaneous pottery sherds and several stone anchors, one of which dates from about 1200 B.C., uncovered in the bay during the 1981 season and in previous years, suggest that the use of the south bay as an anchorage extends back

in time well before Herod'snew city was built. There also appearsto have been another harbor to the north of the main facility of Sebastos, immediately adjacent to the synagogue and Hellenistic occupational levels ex-

METERS

SCALE

o

Piscina (fish tank) complex at the southern limit of the south bay. Photographis by Robert L. Hohlfelder.

05

I

3.60.

,

1

4 .60

..-

.\•

.' ,, --.?,....bn~i;

":':•""; ' ?....?. ' " ...... ....... ...

??

,? --•

'..

• :

.'..

-.:

" .t ? i-'-":;.=" .;

-5._40

•: .. ..."........ ..

2 ... "-.- ?, . ", -o::.',: - v .. .. .":"""• . .. -:-:.. . .:. . .?. . . ..

. .. , . , . .

.

.

........

.. .

Plan of building stones found at the seaward end of the north breakwater.These blocks may have been part of a lighthouse.

cavated by Michael Avi-Yonah(1956, 1961)and west of the twin circular towers uncovered by Antonio Frova (1965). At this point along the Caesarea coastline, CAHEP investigators discovered a section of a Phoenician or Hellenistic quay that is about 4 meters wide and has a visible length today of approximately 30 meters; it is surmounted by finely cut ashlar blocks linked together in antiquity by lead dovetail clamps. This type of block, with clamps as fasteners, is characteristic of Herodian construction elsewhere at Caesarea and suggests that the earlier quay was renovated when the main harborwas constructed and apparently served some commercial function. A small land probe was made adjacent to the quay in 1981. It produced numerous pieces of Hellenistic pottery dating back to the second and third centuries

B.C. At

this

time, the configuration of the harbor is not known, and its history cannot be reconstructed. It will be

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

141

The and

lamps,

they

were

currents floor

artifacts

found moved

and or

the

represent

storms

wedged

such

date,

to

litter

as

found

coins, in

fishing any

harbor; Sebastos by

area of throughout the entire on the ocean until buried they were finally of the into the of one rocks breakwaters.

the site of extensive investigations in future seasons. It does seem likely, however,that it too may have been one of the secondary anchorages referredto by Josephus.

major port of Byzantine Caesarea, enjoying a volume of activity and traffic that may have been worthy of Herod'soriginal idea of his city and its harbor.

The Artifacts from the Conclusions Underwater Excavations Herod'sSebastos appearsto have been a facility as extraordinaryas To date, the ceramic finds and the other artifacts, such as coins, fishJosephus would have us believe. It featured a maritime engineering and statuettes, ing weights, lamps, discovered during the course of technology as sophisticated as that CAHEP'sinvestigations have come of our own age. The design and exfrom unstratified contexts. These ecution of the south breakwateris the litter be to objects represent thoroughly "modern."In the conin struction of Sebastos the first exfound any ancient harbor;they tensive use of hydraulic concrete in were moved throughout the entire the eastern of Mediterraneanappears area Sebastos by currents and to have occurred. The architectural burstorms until they were finally of connected inner and ied on the ocean floor or wedged in- concept outer basins may have providedthe to the rocks of one of the breakwaters. While providing some infor- model followed in the construction mation about the life of Sebastos, of imperial Rome'sharborat Ostia, built by the emperors Claudius and this material is less significant than it would be had it been Trajan.When its secondary anchorrecoveredin more controlled exages are included, Sebastos was the cavations from trenches with stralargest harborin size in the Levant at the time of its completion, one tigraphic integrity. At this point in the preliminary study of these ran- of the largest in all the Mediterradom finds it seems appropriateonly nean, and certainly the most adto note that the overwhelming ma- vanced in its design and construction. Josephuswas quite correct to jority of all artifacts discovered in the inner-harborcomplex and elsecompare it in size to Piraeus, the harbor of ancient Athens, and to where in CAHEP'sexplorations have praised Sebastos as the most dates from the Late Roman-Early Byzantine era of Caesarea'shistory. significant feature of Caesarea Maritima. It was a twentieth-century Whateverthe fate of Sebastos harbor constructed 2,000 years ago. through neglect or natural calamities, it continued to serve the needs of Christian Caesarea Acknowledgments The authors would like to extend from the fourth through the midseventh centuries. In particular,the their sincere gratitude to Professor main outer harborcomplex of Elisha Linder of the University of Haifa for his guidance and inspiraSebastos appearsto have been the

142

ancient

weights,

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

tion; to Mr. HarryWadsworth,who has served as the project'sunderwater photographersince its inception; to the dozens of Israeli, American, and Canadian volunteers who have made such significant contributions to CAHEP'sexpeditions; to the faculty and staff of the Center for Maritime Studies of the University of Haifa for their unstinting assistance in all matters; and to the numerous residents of the Caesarea area who share with us a common dream of recoveringthe ancient city's history and glory and who have helped CAHEP in so many ways. We also wish to acknowledge the generous financial support for our research received from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the University of Colorado Foundation, Inc., the University of Haifa, the Rothschild Foundation, and numerous private donors. Bibliography Avi-Yonah,M. 1956 Caesareain Notes and News. Israel ExplorationJournal6: 260-61. Avi-Yonah,M., and Negev, A. 1961 Caesarea, 1961 in Notes and News. Israel ExplorationJournal 13: 146-48.

Bull,R. J. 1982 CaesareaMaritima-The Searchfor Herod'sCity. Biblical Archaeology Review 8(3):24-40. Flemming, N., Raban,A., and Goetschel, C. 1978 Tectonic and Eustatic Changes on the MediterraneanCoast of Israel in the Last 9000 Years.Pp. 129-65 in Beneath the Watersof Time: The Proceedingsof the Ninth Conference on UnderwaterArchaeology, ed. J. B. Arnold III.Austin: Texas Antiquities Committee.

*AL

4w

4 %OWN

-~dO-

Headers in the foregroundmark the Phoenician or Hellenistic quay in the secondary anchoragenorth of the main facility at Sebastos. The massive rubble structure seaward is part of the Byzantine fortification system probably constructed around AD 500. Photographis by Robert L. Hohlfelder.

Fritsch, C. T., and Ben-Dor,I. 1961 The Link Expedition to Israel, 1960. The Biblical Archaeologist 24(2): 50-59. Frova,A. 1965 Scavi di CaesareaMaritima. Milan: Istituto Milano. Hohlfelder,R. L., and Oleson, J. P. 1980 Sebastos,the HarborComplex of CaesareaMaritima, Israel:The PreliminaryReportof the 1978 UnderwaterExploration.Pp. 765-79 in Oceanography:The Past, eds. M. Sears and D. Merriman.New York: Springer-Verlag. Hohlfelder,R. L., and Raban,A. 1981 UnderwaterExcavationsat Sebastos-The HarborComplex of CaesareaMaritima (Israel):The 1980 Season. Pp. 267-75 in Underwater Archaeology: The Challenge Before Us: The Proceedingsof the Conferenceon Underwater Twvelfth Archaeology,ed. G. P. Watts, Jr.San Marino,CA: Fathom Eight Special Publications. Josephus,Flavius 1961 JosephusII: The Jewish War,Books I-III. Translatedby H. St. J. Thackeray.The Loeb Classical Library.Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press.

1963 Josephus VIII:Jewish Antiquities, Books XV-XVII.Translatedby R. Marcus and A. Wikgren.The Loeb Classical Library.Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversity Press. ProcopiusGazaeus 1865 Panegyricusin Imperatorem Anastasium. Vol. 87, pt. 3, pp. 2793-826 in Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Graeca Prior. Paris:J.-PMigne. Raban,A. 1980 The Silting and Development of MediterraneanHarborsin Antiquity. Pp. 750-64 in Oceanography: The Past, eds. M. Sears and D. Merriman. New York:Springer-Verlag. Raban,A., and Linder,E. 1978 Caesarea.The Herodianharbour. International Journalof Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration 7: 238-43. Reifenberg,A. 1950- Caesarea,A Study in the Decline 51 of a Town. Israel ExplorationJournal 1: 20-32. Stone anchor for a small craft of about 1200 B.C. found in the south bay. Ancient mariners apparentlycalled at the future site of Caesarea Maritima long before the city came into existence. Photographis by Robert L. Hohlfelder.

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

143

O oF 0

ASOR 1984-85 .

2 ,

r 1 OP

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Professorships TravelGrants

The American Schools of Oriental Research is offering over $143,000 in research, study and travel grants for the academic year 1984-85 and the summer 1985. Awards are available to undergraduates, graduate students, seminarians, and post-doctoral scholars. Awards offer opportunities for humanistic study in the Middle East from prehistoric through Islamic times. Recipients participate in the stimulating scholarly community of the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman, or the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute in Nicosia. Available awards include: National Endowment for the Humanities Post-Doctoral Research Fellowships, up to $22,000 stipend, in Jerusalem and Amman Annual Professorships in Jerusalem, Amman, and Nicosia, with room-andboard benefits Barton Fellowship in Jerusalem, with roomand-board benefits plus stipend up to $2,000 Kress Fellowship in Jerusalem, with stipend up to $8,500 Shell Fellowship in Amman, with stipend up to $6,000 Mesopotamian Fellowship, with stipend up to $5,000 W. F. Albright Fellowship, with stipend up to $5,000 Christian Science Zion Research Foundation summer study and travel grants, with stipends of $1,500 and $1,000 Honorary awards in Jerusalem, Amman, and Nicosia Applicationdeadlinefor most awardsis November 1983.Fordetailsand applicationinformation,write ASORAdministrativeOffice,4243SpruceStreet, Philadelphia,PA 19104,Tel. (215)222-4643/4644.

Student working in the laboratory/sherd collection room at CAARI. Increasing numbers of researchers make use of the Institute's sherd collections as well as geological and mineral samples. Photo S. Swiny.

144

IN

Cyprus American

THE

ResearchInstitute and

NEXT BA

Archaeological

AcademicTravelAbroad,Inc. invite you to join An Archaeological'Thur of Cyprus March 28-April 8, 1984 Accompaniedby Dr. Stuart Swiny, CAARIDirector

In 1955 bulldozers accidently unearthed a structureat the Amman airportin Jordan.Subsequent investigations of the site determined it was Late Bronze Age and also yielded amazing finds, including large quantities of Mycenaean pottery, bronze weapons, and Egyptianscarabs.Most investigatorshave identified this structure as a temple. In the next BA LarryG. Herr offers a new interpretationbased on recent excavations, and he points out some intriguing implications that his interpretationhas about the politics of ancient Jordan.

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

Intended for the inquisitive nonspecialist, this tour will visit the major sites and museums of Cyprusprehistoric,Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Moslem, and Crusader.Two days in Londonand Oxfordwill providethe occasion to see Cypriot antiquities in the Ashmolean and British Museums. Cost $2,200 per person. Formore information contact ASOR or Academic TravelAbroad,Inc. 1346 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington,D.C. 20036 Tel: (202) 785-3412

God

Writes

Rude

a

Letter

(Jeremiah 29:1-23) by William L. Holladay by

William

tles) in the New Testament, but the Old Testament preserves letters as well. A long one is found in Jeremiah29:1-23, in which the prophet addressed those who had been exiled to Babylon in the first deportation in 597 B.C.E.But while it was a letter from Jeremiah(29:1), it was at the same time words from Yahweh (29:4). In recent years many letters in both Hebrew and Aramaic from Jeremiah'speriod and from the centuries thereafter have come to light in the excavations of archaeologists, so that we now have a sense of what the normal letter-writing conventions were, and these conventions shed fresh light on the wording of Jeremiah'sletter. The first detail to strike one's eye is the very last phrase, " I am the one who knows, and I am witness,' says the Lord"(29:23).The Greek Septuagint text, which in the prose of the book of Jeremiahfrequently offers a text tradition less cluttered with later scribal additions, omits "Iam the one who knows, and,"and since the Hebrew words for "Iam the one who knows"and "' am witness" are very similar, scholars believe that the extra words are simply an early scribal miscopying and that the Hebrew text is "conflate"(both the original and the errorresting side by side). The original ending of the letter then simply read, "'I am witness,' says the Lord." But the word "witness;'in these newly discovered letters of the time, was a technical term for The last sentence of Jeremiah's "counter-signatory." letter thus effectively means, "counter-signed, Yahweh."This expression underlines what I have

L.

Holladay already stated: that Jeremiah'sletter conforms to ancient letter-writing conventions, and that Jeremiah's letter is at the same time a letter from Yahweh. If the letter ends according to convention, does it also so begin? Let us see. Letters began with a form exactly like our interoffice memos, "From:X; To: Y,"though often the "from"-halfis omitted. This form of address is found here in 29:4, as the punctuation of The New English Bible makes clear: "These are the words of the Lordof Hosts the God of Israel:To all the exiles whom I have carried off from Jerusalemto Babylon."In this modified address, then, we have, "From:Yahweh;To: The exiles"!' After the address,ancient letters conventionally continued with a "greeting," normally some variety of expression containing "peace"(shalom). It could be as simple as "peacebe to you" (compare the Aramaic greeting in Ezra 5:7, "allpeace").Or it could be more elaborate, as in the second Lachish letter (from the period of Jeremiah):"MayYahweh cause my lord to hear tidings of peace." But Jeremiah'sletter lacks such a greeting; instead, the letter moves directly into the imperatives of the body of the letter: "Buildhouses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce" (29:5).This abruptness would have struck the recipients as a rude beginning. Then we realize that the word "peace"(shalom) is there-it is only deferreduntil 29:7 (it is translated as "welfare"in the Revised StandardVersion and other recent translations). The letter thus implies: "Ah,you are listening for 'peace be to you;

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

145

but you listen for it in vain until you do some

'

work of your own. Seek the peace of Babylon, and pray to Yahweh for its peace, for only in its peace will you have the 'peace' for which you are listening." The exiles must have been counting the empty days, as any prisoners do who are "doing time" How can God cut through the attitude of inactive waiting except by writing a rude letter?

announces its newly expanded program and improved facilities

Suggestions for Further Reading Janzen,J. G. 1973 Studies in the Textof Jeremiah.HarvardSemitic Monograph6. Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversity Press. Pardee,D. 1978 An Overview of Ancient Hebrew Epistolography.Journal of Biblical Literature97: 321- 46. 1982 Handbook of Ancient Hebrew Letters.Society of Biblical LiteratureSources for Biblical Studies 15. Missoula, MT:ScholarsPress. Pritchard,J. B., editor 1955 Ancient Near Eastern TextsRelating to the Old Testament. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Pp. 321-22 and 491-92.

IN NEH/ASOR 1984-85

THE NEXT BA

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in JerusalemandAmman

It was recently discoveredthat the ancient site of Capernaumis comprised of the ruins of two historically consecutive towns. In the next BA Vassilios Tzaferisreports on the excavations of the later town conducted between 1978 and 1982, and he discusses what the findings indicate about the history of Capernaum as a whole.

146

Forresearchat the W. E Albright Institute of ArchaeologicalResearchin Jerusalemor the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman. To promote the study of archaeology,anthropology, biblical studies, languages, art history and other humanistic disciplines in the Middle East for all periods. Stipends are $22,000 for 12 months, $11,000 for 6 months. Application deadline is November 15, 1983. Forcomplete details write: ASOR AdministrativeOffices 4243 SpruceStreet Philadelphia,PA 19104 Tel: (215)222-4643

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

W. F. Albright

SInstitute of Archaeological Researchin Jerusalem

AcademicProgramBi-monthly series of Lectures,Seminarsand Reportsin archaeologyand related subjects. Field Trips Bi-monthlyprogramof study tours to eighty archaeological sites and museums in Israeland annual trips to Cyprus, Jordanand Egypt. ExcavationProjectLong-termfield programat Tel Miqne (Ekron) cosponsoredby the Hebrew University. Publications Program(in preparation) Miqne(Ekron)monograph series; a catalogueof the Albright Institute'sStudyCollection; a survey of Archaeological Resourcesin Israel; an annual publicationin Englishof HadashotArkheologiyot-Archaeological in Israel, SurveysandExcavations jointly sponsored by AIAR, NGSBA, IESand the Departmentof Antiquities. ResearchLibrary18,000volumes, 450 journals, maps, microficheand ceramiccollections;specializingin Syro-PalestinianArchaeology,and Ancient Near EasternHistory, Languages and BiblicalStudies. WorkshopsRestoration,drafting, photographicand storage facilities. Scholar'sResidence Single and double rooms with half board, daily/monthlyrates. Two twobedroomapartmentsavailablefor long-term rental.Firstprioritygiven to Albright/ASORappointees. Appointments and Fellowships Annual awards are made for PostdoctoralNationalEndowmentfor the HumanitiesFellowships;Annual Professorships;Pre-doctoralGeorge A. Bartonand Samuel H. Kress Fellowships;HonoraryFellowships for Senior,Post-doctoraland ResearchFellows. While all students and scholarsin Ancient Near EasternStudies are welcome to participatein the program of the AlbrightInstituteand use its facility,priorityis given to membersof the AmericanSchools of OrientalResearch.For further informationcontactProfessorS. Gitin, Director,W. F. AlbrightInstitute of ArchaeologicalResearch, P.O.B. 19096,91 190Jerusalem, Israel, Tel. 282-131,or Mitchell Rothman,AdministrativeDirector, ASOR, 4243 Spruce Street, Philadelphia,PA 19104,Tel. (215) 222-4643.

Was the COIN-on-EYE Custom a Jewish Burial Practice in the Second TemplePeriod? Rachel

by

Hachlili

and Ann

WVe

95.79

oI••M

-

95-7

96.10

Planof tombD/18in the Jerichocemetery.

Killebrew to were prompted

write this article in reply to the recent controversythat has arisen from the discovery of four coins inside two Jewish tombs of the Second Temple period at Jericho and their relation to Jewish burial customs of the period. The Jericho coins have been cited as evidence that the placement of coins over the deceased'seyes was a prevalent Jewish burial custom of the first century A.D. (see, for instance, Bortin 1980: 112).This unfounded belief has been used by some to support their claims that the images of objects appearingover the eyes on the Shroud of Turin are coins. It should be stressed that we do not wish to enter into a discussion regardingthe shroud and its authenticity-this will be left to believers and scientists now examining the shroud (for instance, Barbet 1963; Bortin 1980; Lewis 1979; Nickel 1981; Sox 1978a, 1978b; Weaver1980; Pellicori and Evans 1981;Wilson 1978). Rather it is our intention to present for the first time a detailed description of the coins found in the Jerichocemetery, followed by a discussion of

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

147

0 I

IM I

I

Plan of tomb D/3 in the Jerichocemetery.

the important literature on the coin-on-eye custom; finally, we will summarize the archaeological evidence for and against the existence of such a burial custom during the first century A.D.

containing one to three primary interments. The roof had collapsed into the chamber. One of the coins (figure 1) was found in the debris, at the entrance to the tomb. It was a coin of YehohananHyrcanus II

Evidence from the Jericho Cemetery Four coins were found in two of the approximatelyfifty rock-hewn tombs examined during the course of salvage excavations. Two of the coins were found in tomb D/18, our tomb type 1, dated by its contents to approximatelythe second half of the first century B.C. (Hachlili and Killebrew 1983). It consisted of a central chamber with seven loculi, each of which held a wooden coffin

nos. 18 and 19). The second coin (figure2) was found in a damaged skull belonging to a skeleton that had been interred in a coffin lying on the west bench of the chamber. It was a bronze coin of Herod Archelaus (4 B.c.-

148

(63-40 B.C.;Meshorer 1967: 41-55,

6 A.D.;Meshorer 1967: no. 58).

Two additional coins (figures3 and 4) were discoveredin tomb D/3, belonging to our burial type 2b (secondarycollected bones; Hachlili and Killebrew 1983). Neither

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

coffins nor ossuaries had been placed inside the tomb; rather collected bones of secondary burials had been gathered together in piles. The coins were found stuck together inside a skull discovered in loculus 1. Both coins were bronze coins of Agrippa I (37-44 A.D.) dating to his sixth year (42-43 A.D.;

Meshorer 1967: no. 88). The Jerichoevidence may be summed up as follows: Only one of the coins, that of YehohananHyrcanus II in tomb D/18, was not found in situ. This particular coin seems to have fallen into the entrance debris. The three other coins had been intentionally pla6ed inside the tombs at the time of burial. It is our contention that this

Systems' VP-8 Image Analyzer, they

discerned an object resting on each eye. These objects were circular in

Obverse: Inscription surrounded by wreath: "Yehohanan the high priest and hever of the Jews." figure1

Obverse: Prow of galley to right; under the galley an "H-." figure2 was a result of the pagan Greek custom of placing a coin or coins in the mouth of the deceased as a payment to Charon, who in Greek mythology is the ferryman who carries the spirits of the dead across the River Styx to Tartarus (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 211; Toynbee 1971: 44, 49, 119, 124, 291). The rarity of this practice is obvious among the hundreds of skulls examined during the Jericho cemetery excavations, only two skulls were found containing coins. Recently published research, however, has misused the above data to indicate

Reverse: Double cornucopia, with pomegranatebetween horns. Bronze, 15 mm; 1.216 g.

Reverse: Inscription surrounded by wreath: EO. Bronze, 14 mm; 0.917 g.

shape, flat, and nearly identical in size. Citing A. P. Bender (1894, 1895) as their source, they state: In an attempt to identify the kinds of things that might well be on the eyes of a dead man, we consulted Jewish burial customs prevalentat the time of Jesus and found that it was customaryfor the Jewsto place objects (potsherds-pottery fragments - or coins)overthe eyes of the dead. Upon examining exactly what Bender says, however, we find that his remarks were misinterpreted. Bender (1894) traces the antiquity of the custom of closing the eyes of the deceased and cites the Zohar, a medieval Jewish manuscript, to support his claim; he says: When the last breath has left the body, and no trace of life can be discerned, the eyes of the dead are reverently closed, generally by the eldest son, but, failing him, by the nearest relative. Bender continues: It is distinctly stated however,that one is "guiltyof death"if one closes the eyes beforeone is fully satisfied that life is wholly extinct (T. B. Semach. I.), or even ...

while the

soul is in the act of emerging from the body (Mish. Shabb. xxiii. 4). A more complete version of what is said in these two Jewish sources should be given. The first, Semahot that the custom was widespread 1.4, says: His eyes may not be closed. Whosoamong Jews of the Second Temple evertouches him or stirs him sheds period. blood. RabbiMeir used to comparea dyConfusion and Disagreement ing man to a flickeringlamp:the moin the Literature ment one touches it he puts it out. The confusion surroundingthe So,too, whosoevercloses the eyes of coin-on-eye custom and Jewish bura dying man is accounted as though ial customs of the Second Temple he has snuffedout his life. (Zlotnick period first appearsin an article by 1966: 31; see also the note on 98) Eric Jumper,John Jackson, and The second, Mishnah Shabbath Kenneth Stevenson, Jr.,published in 23.5 (not 4), says: The Numismatist in 1978 (pp. They may not close a corpse'seyes 1350-57). After examining the imon the Sabbath;nor may they do so on a weekday at the moment when age of the shroud with an instrument known as the Interpretation the soul is departing;and he that

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

149

closes the eyes [ofthe dying man] at the moment when the soul is departing, such a one is a shedderof blood. (Danby 1933: 120)

Bothof these passagesspeakof the closing of the eyes of the deceased, but no mentionis madeof placing any objectoverthe eyes. Finally,to completehis investigationof this custom,Bender(1894: 102-03)quotesJamesFrazer(1886), who discussesthe practiceof closing the eyes of the deceasedby bringingtogetherboth ancientand contemporary examples of this custom: The very generalpractice of closing the eyes of the dead appearsto have originatedwith a similarobject(that the ghost might not be able to find his wayback);it was a mode of blindfolding the dead, that he might not see the wayby which he was carried to his last home. At the gravewhere he was to rest for ever,there was, of course, no motive for concealment, hence the Romans, and apparently the Siamese, opened the eyes of the deadman at the funeralpyre,just as we should unbandagethe eyes of an enemy after conducting him to his destination. ... The Jewsput a potsherd, and the Russians coins, on each of his eyes. The notion that if the eyes of the deadbe not closed his ghost will return to fetch away anotherof the household still exists in Bohemia,Germanyand England. Nowhere in the above passage does one find mention of an ancient Jewish custom of placing coins over the eyes of the deceased. The only reference to the placing of coins is with respect to the then modernday Russians. Contemporary Jews, Frazer claimed, placed potsherds over the eyes. From the material brought together in the article by Jumper, Jackson, and Stevenson, there is no basis for claiming that placing coins over the eyes of the deceased was a prevalent burial custom among Jews of the first century A.D.This mistake was repeated by Ian Wilson in his book The Thrin Shroud (1978: 200).

150

Obverse: Canopy around inscription BACIAE[WC A]FPIIITIA. Lowerpart of coin figure3

rubbed away.

Obverse: Same as above. Left side of coin worn. figure4

In 1979 the first preliminary report of the Jericho cemetery was published (Hachlili 1979: 28-35). In this article a brief description was included of the coins; it was stated that they had apparently been placed on the deceased as payment to Charon, following a pagan Greek custom (Hachlili 1979: 34). A reexamination of the evidence now leads us to believe that the coins had been placed in the mouth, not on the eyes, as only one coin was

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

Reverse: Threeearsof barleyissuingfrombetween two leaves,in field, date [L]S(year6). Bronze,16 mm;2.258g.

Reverse: Same as above. S only partially visible. Bronze, 17 mm; 1.716 g. found in one skull and two coins stuck together were found in the second skull. The latter occurrence indicates that they had been placed together, that is, in the mouth, as opposed to separately, one over each eye. More recently Virginia Bortin (1980: 112) remarks that "Jews often used coins or pottery sherds to close the corpse's eyes believing they must not open before glimpsing the next world." No reference is given.

These misleading and false statements in turn are used to support the observation that coins are placed over the eyes of the image of the Shroud of Turin and consequently considered as evidence in the dating of the shroud. The first to refute these statements was L. Y. Rahmani in his letter to the editor of the BA (1980: 197);in it he stresses the lack of evidence from first-century-A.D. tombs to support such a claim. He interprets the Jerichoevidence as pointing to the Greek practice of placing coins in the mouth as payment to Charon. In his reply, Francis L. Filas (1981: 136) refuses to accept the fact that Jews of the Second Temple period could practice a pagan custom such as placing coins in the mouth. In fact, the Jewswere strongly influenced by Greek culture during this period in nearly all aspects of their life, including their burial customs (Hachlili and Killebrew 1983). Father Filas continues that the coin-on-eye custom is mentioned in medieval times and later. In fact, as stated above, this custom existed only during fairly recent times. It is impossible to assume from these later sources that the coin-on-eye custom also existed among Jews during the Second Temple period. L. Y. Rahmani, in a second letter to the editor of the BA (1982: 6-7), answers FatherFilas on several points and concludes at the end of his letter that the subjective evidence FatherFilas presents is not sufficient to identify the spots found in the region of the eyes on the Turin Shroud as coins, specifically those of Pontius Pilatus. Instead, he says it is necessary to wait for the more objective evidence obtained from the various scientific examinations now being conducted on the shroud to arrive at its date. Now that we have discussed the important literature and arguments both for and against the

coin-on-eye custom being a Jewish practice of the Second Temple period, we turn to the archaeological evidence discovered in tombs of the first century A.D. and later in Israel in locations other than Jericho. Additional Archaeological Evidence from ToIbmbs the During past century, hundreds of tombs dating from the Second Temple to Late Roman periods have been excavated or surveyed (see, for instance, Hachlili 1979; Kloner

the

During

past

hundreds from dating

century

tombs the Second to

Late

'Ibmple Roman

have

periods excavated

veyed. rarely in

of

Coins been

or

been surhave

found

them.

30/31 (that is, to the period of the procurators),with the exception of one coin, which dates to the time of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 B.C.;

Rahmani 1967: 92-93, 96). The majority of the coins is later in date than that indicated by the other artifacts discovered in the tomb. This has led the excavatorto propose that the coins are associated with the burial in kokh 9, and to conclude that this burial is later than the other interments in the tomb. In fact, it is not clear if the deceased was Jewish. In support of this suggestion Rahmani points out that the association of a large number of coins with the interred has rarely been discovered in Jewish tombs. Additional coins were found in room B, on the floor of the porch, or in the inner courtyarddebris, but they cannot be related to any specific burial custom. At "Dominus Flevit,"a large Jewish necropolis on the Mount of Olives, numerous tombs of the Second Temple period have been excavated (Bagattiand Milik 1958). Over a hundred coins were found in the debris of the tombs or in their vicinity. Only seven of these coins date from the first century B.c.-first

century A.D. (Bagattiand Milik 1958: 44, 163). 1980: including bibl.; Rahmani A scattering of coins, evidently 1961). Though pottery and glass ob- not in situ, has been found in various other tombs throughout Jerujects are commonly found in these salem. One coin of AgrippaI was tombs, coins, in contrast, are a rare occurrence. found in the debris filling an ossuThe largest collection of coins ary tomb excavated by Sukenik found inside a tomb of the Second (1947)in Talpiot. The coin, dating Temple period is from Jason'sTomb, to year 6, is the same as the two Jerusalem (Rahmani 1967);fortyAgrippa I coins from Jericho but it two of the fifty-five coins were is worn and the reverse is only partfound in room A, kokh 9. This was ly legible. The context of this coin an unusual kokh in that it was dug lacks any significance and cannot into the floor of the tomb chamber; be related to any of the burials. the sides then had been built up In another Jerusalem tomb exwith stones. Of the forty-two coins, cavated by Sukenik (1930) a coin of thirty-six were found at the foot of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 B.c.)was the deceased and another six were found "among the artefacts" in the found nearby.The coins belong to tomb. the period spanning A.D.5/6 to A.D.

A second coin of Alexander

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

151

Jannaeuswas found in a disturbed tomb loculus, along with bones and pottery (Kloner 1980: 134). Additional coins discovered in tombs include a coin of the Second Yearof the Revolt in a closed loculus of an undisturbed tomb (Kloner 1980: 132);a coin of Tiberias (location not designated; Kloner 1980: 93); two unidentified coins (Kloner 1980: 94, 168);and an unpublished find of a Pontius Pilatus coin in a Jewish tomb on JabelMukaber, south of Jerusalem (Meshorer:oral communication). Severalcoins from later periods have occasionally been found in tombs. Bronze coins, ranging in date from Byzantine to Mameluke and Turkish, were recoveredin the forecourts of several Jewish Sanhedriyya tombs (Rahmani 1961: 100). Obviously these were later intrusions and have no connection with the Jewish tombs of the Second Temple period. Outside Jerusalem,a large Jewish cemetery, dating to the Second Temple period, has been excavated at Qumran (de Vaux 1973). These graveswere simple burials dug into the earth containing primary burials. Apart from several sherds and a few ornaments (found near two female skeletons), the burials were empty of any artifacts (de Vaux 1973: 45-48). Among tombs dating to later periods, coins are only occasionally found (see, for instance, Baramki 1932; Kaplan 1974: 137; Saller 1950; Sellers and Baramki: 1953). Even during the Late Roman and Byzantine periods, there is no evidence for the existence of the coin-on-eye custom. None of the coins from the survey of tombs given above was found in any kind of context that would suggest that they were part of the burial custom. There are only two locations in Israel, besides Jericho, where coins can be said to have been used in the burial ritual.

152

At cEn Boqeq, the site of a fortress in the second-century-A.D. JudeanDesert, a human burial was excavated (Gichon 1970: 138). The deceased was found with two silver dinarii of Hadrianos (ca. 133 A.D.) placed over his eye sockets (Gichon 1970: 141).Nearby a Bar-KokhbaRevolt coin was found. The excavator maintains that it is impossible to determine the nationality of the deceased or to know if he resided there permanently. During the excavation of two tombs (nos. 100 and 117) at the Nabataean necropolis of Mampsis in the Negev, two silver dinarii of Trajan(ca. 117 A.D.)were found, deposited between the teeth of the two deceased (Negev 1971: 119, 128). Following the Greek custom, these coins had been placed between the teeth as payment to Charon. Conclusion We may safely conclude from our discussion that the placement of coins inside tombs was not usually part of the burial ritual, particularly among Jews (it is highly doubtful that the interred at cEn Boqeq was a Jew).Though the practice of placing coins in the mouth does sporadically appear,more rarely among Jews,the placing of coins over the eyes is reportedin only one case, at cEn Boqeq. Therefore, the claim that placing coins over the eyes was a common Jewish burial practice during the Second Temple period cannot be substantiated either by the archaeological or literary evidence. Acknowledgments We would like to express our thanks to Dr. L. Y. Rahmani (Chief Curator, Israel Department of Antiquities and Museums) and Dr. Y. Meshorer (Israel Museum), who read the manuscript, for their helpful suggestions.

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

Bibliography Bagatti,P B., and Milik, J.T 1958 Gli Scavi del Dominus Flevit. Jerusalem:Tipografiadei P. P. Francescani. Baramki,D. C. 1932 Note on a Cemetery at KarmalShaikh, Jerusalem.Quarterlyof the Department of Antiquities of Palestine 1: 3-9. Barbet,P. 1963 A Doctor at Calvary.GardenCity, NY: Doubleday Image Book. Bender,A. P. 1894 Beliefs, Rites, and Customs of the Jews,Connected with Death, Burial, and Mourning.IV.Jewish Quarterly Review 7: 101-18. 1895 Beliefs, Rites, and Customs of the Jews,Connected with Death, Burial, and Mourning.V. Jewish Quarterly Review 7: 259-69. Bortin, V. 1980 Science and the Shroudof Turin. Biblical Archeologist 43: 109-17. Danby,H. 1933 The Mishnah. Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press. Filas, E L. 1981 The Shroudof Turin:Roman Coins and FuneraryCustoms, (Polemics and Irenics).Biblical Archeologist 44: 135-37. Frazer,J. G. 1886 On Certain BurialCustoms as Illustrative of the Primitive Theory of the Soul. The Journalof the AnthropologicalInstitute of Great Britain and Ireland 15: 64-104. Gichon, M. 1970 Excavationsat CEn-Boqeq.Qadmoniot 12: 138-41 (in Hebrew). Hachlili, R. 1979 Ancient Burial Customs Preserved in JerichoHills. Biblical Archaeology Review 5(4):28-35. Hachlili, R., and Killebrew,A. 1983 JewishFuneraryCustoms during the Second Temple in Light of the Excavationsat the JerichoNecropolis. Palestine Exploration Quarterly (in press). Jumper,E., Jackson,J., and Stevenson, K., Jr. 1978 Images of a Coin on a Burial Cloth? The Numismatist 91: 1350-57. Kloner,A. 1980 The Necropolis of Jerusalemin the Second TemplePeriod. Jerusalem: Thesis submitted for the degree Doctor of Philosophy,Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Kurtz, D. C., and Boardman,J. 1971 Greek Burial Customs. London: Thames and Hudson.

Lewis, R. 1979 Pathologist at Calvary: Examination of Turin Shroud Provides Crucifixion Details. American Medical News (13 April 1979): 21. Meshorer, Y.

1967 Jewish Coins of the Second Temple Period. Tel-Aviv: Am Hassefer.

Negev, A. 1971 The Necropolis of Mampsis. Israel

ExplorationJournal21: 110-29. Nickel, J. 1981 New Evidence: The Shroud of Turin Is a Forgery. Free Inquiry (Summer): 28-30. Pellicori, S. E, and Evans, M. S. 1981 The Shroud of Turin through the

Microscope.Archaeology 34: 34-43. Rahmani, L. Y. 1961 Jewish Rock-Cut Tombs in Jerusalem. CAtiqot III: 93-120. 1967 Jason's Tomb. Israel Exploration Journal 17: 61-113. 1980 The Shroud of Turin (Polemics and

Irenics).Biblical Archeologist 43: 197. 1982 Roman Coins and the Shroud (Polemics and Irenics). Biblical Ar-

ty. American Journalof Archaeology 51: 351-65. Toynbee,J.M. C. 1971 Death and Burial in the Roman

cheologist 45: 6-7. Saller, S. 1950 Ancient Rock-Cut Burial Chambers at Bethany. Liber Annuus 1: 191-226. Sellers, O. R., and Baramki, D. C. 1953 A Roman-Byzantine Burial Cave in Northern Palestine. Bulletin of the

American Schools of Oriental Research Supplemental Studies nos. 15-16. Sox, H. D. 1978a Authenticity of the Turin Shroud.

Clergy Review 43: 250-56. 1978b File on the Shroud. Great Britain: Coronet Books. Sukenik, E. L. 1930 A Jewish Tomb North-West of Jerusalem. Tarbiz 1: 122-24 (in Hebrew). 1947 The Earliest Records of Christiani-

World. London: Thames and Hudson.

de Vaux,R. 1973 Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (The Schweich Lecturesof the British Academy 1959). London: British Academy. Weaver, K. E 1980 The Mystery of the Shroud. Na-

tional Geographic 157: 730-53. Wilson, I. 1978 The Shroudof Thrin.GardenCity, NY: Doubleday. Zlotnick, D.

1966 The Tractate"Mourning"(Semahot). New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

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The Jacob and Laban Narrative

Lake

Van

Tigris

of Near Eastern Sources

Alalakh U arit

( uzi

Mari?

Je

.Arrapha

salem

byMarthaA.Morrison

Dead SeaLarsa

Beer-Sheba

Map of the ancient Near East showing some of the prominent cities of the second millennium

Ancient

ight

in

Lake

Near

Eastern are and

agreements

practices of

the

materials

invaluable institutions and Jacob

ncientNearEastern par-

allels to the practices and institutions of the Jacoband Labanstory Genesis (in 29:15-31:55)have often been cited both to elucidate the text and to provide a chronological context for it. Early research, most notably the work of Cyrus H. Gordon and EphraimA. Speiser, focused on second-millennium sources, including Old Babylonian laws and contracts and, particularly, the documents from Nuzi, a mid-

like

on

Laban

and

herding of

sources

B.c.

which

information about the

story

marriage

are

second-millennium Hurrian city of the land of Arrapha-the modem Kirkuk region of Iraq-(Gordon 1937: 25-27; 1964: 21-33; and Speiser 1930, 1964). On the basis of numerous similarities between these sources and the Jacoband Laban story, a second-millennium Hurrian cultural milieu was proposed for the tale. More recently, John Van Seters (1969, 1975) has challenged this second-millennium date for the patriarchalnarratives, including the Jacoband Laban

central based.

the

themes

story. Through comparisons with ancient Near Eastern texts of the first millennium, he suggests a context relatively contemporarywith that of the compilers of the patriarchal narratives.Still others question the value of such historical parallels altogether, arguing that they provide no really fixed date for the composition of the biblical story and obscure its literary qualities (Thompson 1974, 1978). Chronological and stylistic discussions aside, ancient Near

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

155

This engraving by N. Poussin depicts Jacobmeeting Laban and his daughters. Takenfrom John Kitto'sThe Pictorial Family Bible (London:Sangsterand Fletcher, 1854).

Eastern materials are invaluable sources of information concerning the practices and institutions on which the central themes of the Jacoband Laban story are based, specifically herding and marriage agreements and the household gods. As the evidence in the extrabiblical record accumulates, it is possible not only to describe the mechanics of these customs but also to observe the social and economic dynamics of the culture to which the Jacoband Laban story is inextricably bound. A deeper understanding of the socioeconomic backgroundof the biblical narrative clarifies certain issues in the text and contributes substantially to our appreciation of the complexities and the significance of the story. Herding Practices and the Role of the Herdsmen It has long been recognized that the herding theme of the Jacoband La156

ban story, as is appropriatefor its setting in the region of Harran, reflects practices typical of those employed in sedentary agricultural communities in the ancient Near East. These practices are outlined in Old Babylonianmaterials, including herding contracts, the Larsa administrative texts, and the herding laws in the Code of Hammurapi (Kraus1966; Postgate 1975: 1-20), and have been cited in connection with the Jacoband Labanstory (Finklestein 1968: 30-36; Speiser 1964: 247). The agreements between Jacob and Labanbear a strong resemblance to Old Babylonianherding contracts. By these contracts free herdsmen agreedwith livestock owners to tend the flocks and herds in return for a share of the profits in the form of young stock, wool, and dairy products. The herdsmen were responsible for repaying any animals that were lost or became

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

diseased because of the herdsman's negligence. According to the Code of Hammurapi, however, the herdsmen were exempted from replacing losses resulting from the depredations of wild animals or lipit ilim, literally "the touch of a god."The contracts were also used to calculate the expected increase in the flock and, thus, the shares of the livestock owner and the herdsmen. The Larsaadministrative texts indicate, at least for state herding, that the expected birthrate was eighty lambs per one hundred ewes and that a fifteen-percent loss to the original flock was allowed the herdsman. Shortfalls in the numbers of young returned to the livestock owner and losses above the fifteen-percent loss rate, barring, presumably,those for which the herdsman was not responsible, were to be made up by the herdsman. The herdsman'sshare of the produce of the flocks appearsto

have been anything in excess of the predetermined share accruing to the livestock owner. There are references, however, to other types of recompense, including flat fees of grain and payments of clothing allowances or grain rations. Varying combinations of these forms of payment are attested. The essential elements of this contractual system are incorporated into the agreements between Jacob and Laban.Jacobcontracts to work as a herdsman for Laban in return for predeterminedwages-that is, his two wives and certain types of livestock. Labanreaps the benefits of Jacob'swork in the increase of his flocks. Further similarities to the Old Babylonian materials appear in Jacob'sprotests concerning his good service (Genesis 31:36-39): he avoided shortfalls in expected young and repaid losses caused by wild animals. Of course, in light of the Old Babylonian evidence, the terms of Jacob'scontracts appear unfavorable,most notably in the repayment of losses that would normally be exempt. The evidence from Nuzi supplements what is known from Old Babylonian sources, and documents more fully the activities of the herdsmen and their relationship to the livestock owner (Morrison 1981: 257-96). Consignment texts, which are sealed by the herdsmen and detail the numbers and types of livestock entrusted to the herdsmen, are, in effect, contracts between the herdsmen and the livestock owners. The brevity of these texts is illustrated by HSS 9 64 (Pfeiffer 1932), a typical herding contract: 2 bearing ewes, 7 wethers, 1 male lamb, 11 bearing she-goats, 7 hegoats, 2 male kids, 1 female kid: a total of 31 small cattle which Shilwateshub entrustedto Urhiyason of Ikkianni. Seal of Urhiya son of Ikkianni. Other sources, particularly lawsuits, can be used to reconstruct

This inscribed and sealed clay bulla from Nuzi contained a contract between a herdsman and a livestock owner. Semitic Museum number 1854. Copyright1983 by President and Fellows of HarvardCollege for the Semitic Museum.

the terms underlying the contracts. Herdsmen were expected to return livestock to their owner at the shearing time. Livestock that died or were lost while in the herdsman's care were to be repaid. A herdsman might be excused from repaying losses if the livestock were killed by another animal or if the herdsman could show that he had not been negligent. As in the Old Babylonianperiod, the Nuzi contracts also seem to have been used to calculate the expected yield of the flocks. In return for their work, the Nuzi herdsmen received a share of the flocks' profits. Other forms of recompense, including grain rations forthe herdsmen and payments of bronze, are also attested. The livestock owners provided fodder for the livestock and, in many cases, the local pastures on which the flocks were grazed. Debt statements (the muddiz documents), such as the following,

record the losses to the flocks taken out by the herdsmen the preceding year: 2 malekids,1femalekid:the deficit whichShennithesonofHuziriowes Seal andwill repayto Shilwa-teshub. of Shenni. (HSS9 45: Pfeiffer 1932)

Sealed in the same manner as the contracts, the debt statements are the herdsmen'sagreements to repay the livestock indicated. The frequency of these debt statements, combined with the averagesize of the debt, indicates that losses of some magnitude were common for the herdsmen. Losses of young stock and of adult males comprise a high percentage of the deficits acknowledged by the herdsmen. The young-stock figures are the shortfalls in expected births as calculated on the basis of the contracts, and such losses are reflected in both the Old Babylonianmaterials and in Jacob'sremarks in Genesis 31:36-39. The losses of adult

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

157

males, however,parallel Jacob's affirmation that he had not eaten any of Laban'srams (Genesis 31:38). Thus, unauthorized slaughter of such stock may have been frequent. The consumption of male stock would be preferable,indeed, because the herdsman, if detected, would be liable only for the male animal and not for both a female adult and the lamb or kid she was expected to bear. In both the Old Babylonianand Nuzi materials,the shearingtime (buqumu/buqunu)was the focal point of the herding cycle. Occurring in the spring, it was the time when the herdsmen gathered so that supervisory personnel associated with the households of the livestock owners could count the flocks, pluck the sheep, shear the goats, tally the herdsmen'saccounts, and consign livestock to the herdsmen for another year. That is, contracts were drawn up and accounts settled between the herdsman and the livestock owner. After the shearing, the herdsmen took the flocks to pasture. Typically,the herding calendar complemented the agricultural one to the extent that the herdsmen were available to help with plowing and planting, took the flocks away from the sown areas during the growing season, and returned in time for the harvest. When the flocks were near home, local pastures and supplemental fodder could support them. A herding cycle similar to that of the Old Babylonianperiod and of Nuzi pervades the Jacoband Laban story. The time when the flocks were in local pastures is reflected in the passages describing Jacob's arrival at Harran (Genesis 29:1-14), his meeting with Rachel and Leah (Genesis 31:4-16), and the incident of Reuben's mandrakes (Genesis 30:14-16). The first two occur in fields within easy access of Laban's center at Harran. In the last, Jacob is able to return home to his wives at night, specifically, "in the days of

158

known the results of the year in time to change the terms, an accounting would be required.It is worth noting that Labanseems to have honored each season's contract for a particular type of livestock but changed the terms for the next wheat harvest."(This translation season to counteract Jacob'sbreedand subsequent passages are from ing successes, because Jacobgrew the Revised StandardVersion.) wealthy as a result of his service. It Other events in the narrativere- is also interesting that the time fer to the time when accounts were allowed for this period of Jacob's settled and new contracts drawn up, service, six years, is close to the that is, the shearing time. In the six-and-a-half-yearturnover time demonstrated by the Nuzi flocks. meetings with Labanin both Genesis 29:21-27 and Genesis Within such a period of time, all of 30:25-36, Jacobdeclares that he has the original flock belonging to Lafulfilled his contractual obligations, ban could have died off and been requests his wages, and then enters replaced by the abnormally colored new contracts. The first event livestock that were Jacob's.Thus, all occurs when all of the men of the that was Laban'smight, indeed, place are available for the marriage have become Jacob's,as Laban'ssons feast. The second is followed imme- complain: "Jacobhas taken all that was our father's;and from what was diately by Laban'sseparation of the flocks by a "threedays'journey" our father'she has gained all this wealth" (Genesis 31:1). Though Laban'smotives as to the The most significant event composition of the flock are clear, the departureof the flocks from relating to the herding cycle is the time of Jacob'sdeparture.He left settled areas after contracts were drawn up is typical of ancient Near when Labanwas at the shearing, Easternherding practices. Even the the end of a contract period. Thus, he left honorably at the end of his first contract of Genesis 29:15-19 occurs after a time when the flocks obligations for the year and before were in local pastures, and probably the assumption of new coincides with the beginning of the responsibilities. In sharp contrast to most of herding year. the narrativeare Jacob'sstatements Furtherencounters between in his final confrontation with Jacoband Labanat the accounting Laban.He stresses his good service time are suggested in Genesis and emphasizes the hardships that 31:7-8, in which Jacobrelates Lahe has endured:"Byday the heat ban'schanging of his wages. This consumed me, and the cold by section of the narrativeappearsto summarize a series of contracts. night, and my sleep fled from my all to work for the Jacobagreed eyes"(Genesis 31:40). These appear and and brown to be allusions to life in the open speckled spotted and the and sheep spotted speckled away from settled areas, that is, the the time when the flocks were pastured among goats (Genesis 30:32). He states, however,that Labanhad away from home. changed his wages from the speckPerhaps the most important inled to the ringstrakedwhen he disformation that Nuzi offers about covered the outcome of the herding the Jacob and Laban story concerns

The herding cycle the Jacob pervades and story. Laban

season (Genesis 31:8). Moreover, ringstraked, speckled, and grisled rams were sent to Jacob's flocks (Genesis 31:10). For Laban to have

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

the relationship between Jacob and Laban and Jacob's status at Harran. Like their counterparts in the Old Babylonian period, the Nuzi herds-

men were skilled professionals who worked willingly. As members of the free citizenry, they are normally identified by patronymic-for example, Tuntuya son of Sin-dayyanand

teshub, or Kipayathe shepherd of Keliya. These forms of reference are used not only when a livestock owner refers to his herdsman in legal declarations but also when a son of third party seeks to identify the Akip-tilla Ebel-teshub-in contrast to members of the wardu herdsman'saffiliation. Thus, the or slave class who are identified by relationship between the herdsman the masters' names-for example, and the livestock owner helped to Pai-teshub wardu of Shilwa-teshub define the herdsman'sidentity in son of the king. Through patronym- the community. ics, and in some cases seal impressions, the names of over ninety herdsmen can be recoveredin the Nuzi texts. Some of these herdsmen are associated primarily with that other cities of Arrapha,such as Ziz- the za, Tasheni, and Kabla, but they he has endured: either appearat Nuzi or worked for Nuzi livestock owners. A signifithe heat "By cant number of the herdsmen are and found as witnesses to contracts and me, declarations in court, in records of the cold taxation and military service, and as parties to business transactions and fled my involving real estate, grain, and livestock. Among the latter, the my eyes." herding contracts and debt statements are the most prominent exThe close relationship between amples. Disputes that arose conthese were the free herdsmen and the livestock cerning agreements settled in court. In such cases the owners was based on economic inburden of proof was on the herdsterdependence. The livestock ownman to show that he had not been ers needed the services of the or that there were mitinegligent herdsmen, and they provided the In factors. most cases the herdsmen with the means for their gating livestock owner won, but occasion- livelihoods, including the livestock and certain resources such as fodally a herdsman was able to vindicate himself. der for the animals, grain rations, and other forms of payment. Although the Nuzi herdsmen were free citizens, they are found in Among Shilwa-teshub'sherdsmen, close social and economic associasome even borrowedgrain from him tion with livestock-owning families, to be repaid at the time of the harso much so that individual herdsvest. Both parties shared in the fortunes of the herds, but the herdsmen seem to have worked for only men were responsible for replacing one livestock owner. Moreover, while the herdsmen are identified at least some of the losses. Conby patronymic-that is, their family sidering that a sheep valued at 1.33 shekels of silver equalled approxare frequently association-they further identified, in a manner simimately three months of average ilar to the means of identifying the grain rations, deficits could be very the name of the livewardu, by costly and difficult to repay.If the debts of the herdsmen accumulatstock owner for whom they worked -for instance, Bel-ahbbshu son of ed, they could contribute substanthe oxherd of Shilwatially to the formation of the bond Am-apu

Jacob

emphasizes hardships day

consumed

by

sleep

from

night,

between herdsmen and livestock owners. The affiliation between herdsman and livestock owner is not always limited to a single generation. At Nuzi, and doubtless at other sites, the herding profession was hereditary.In a number of cases two and sometimes three generations of the same family can be found working for the same livestock owner or his family. Tayathe son of Ward-ahheshuand his son Beliya cared for the oxen of Tehiptilla son of Puhi-shenni. Twelve families of herdsmen can be identified in the archives of Shilwateshub son of the king. In some of the families, brothers contract to care for or repay livestock together; for example: 24 wethers,5 she-goats,5 bearing she-goats:a totalof 44 smallcattle which Shilwa-teshubentrustedto Nullu and Uthap-taethe sons of Akip-tilla.Sealof Uthap-taeson of Akip-tilla.SealofNullusonofAkiptilla. (HSS 13 260: Lacheman 1942)

Among the brothers who contract together, one often appearsalone in contracts or administrative texts. He was probablythe eldest son who ultimately assumed his father'sposition in the family. A particularly interesting herding family working for Shilwateshub is the family of Kawinni: Kawinni Puhi-shenni Tae

Sill-kfibi

Kanipa Shimika-atal Because Kawinni'sname appears only as a patronymic in the archives, he was probably not one of Shilwa-teshub's herdsmen. However, his son Tae and Tae's two sons Shimika-atal and Kanipa are well attested. Another individual, Sillkiibi son of Puhi-shenni, appears with both Tae and Shimika-atal in contracts and administrative texts. Sill-kilbi's relationship to the family was sufficiently close that he was identified as the son of Kawinni

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

159

and the brother of Tae in one text, Labanwas the head of a family even though his seal is called that whose income derived from liveof Sill-kuibison of Puhi-shenni. He stock and whose members, includof the have been a relative may ing Rachel and his sons, tended the the have or he flocks. joined family may Although Jacobwas Laban's herdin the an as apprentice family nephew and became his son-in-law, his relaWhatever his situation is very different from ing profession. contractto the that of the family members at Nuzi family, by tionship the who contracted together or even of with members ing jointly that of in the contractual he shared Sill-kiibi who joined the family, and of those individuals of family Kawinni in the herding obligations would share in any profits based on enterprise. Clearly separate from the family in the herding business, the contracts. he contracts with Laban,the livestock owner, for recompense acfor cording to the terms of his conrequest JacoY's tract. He appearsnot to share in as Rachel Laban'sprofits during the first fourhis wages, teen years of his service, and he of an unusual form does not share his profits with Laban's family during the last six the altered payment, of years his service. In fact, the complaint of Laban'ssons (Genesis straightforward 31:1)is directed to this very point. The introduction of the sons and that their role in the story emphasizes envisioned Laban the difference between Jacoband the members of the family and the and underscores Jacob'shired status. As has been noted (VanSeters of the 1969: 390), Jacob'sremark that he must provide for his own house contract. (Genesis 30:30) indicates that he was completely aware of his posiAt Nuzi, then, herding was tion as a hired herdsman. His purconducted in large part by families of herdsmen who shared the work, pose in going to Harranwas to acthe responsibilities, and the profits quire a wife. Having completed the two contract periods necessary to of the flocks and herds. Sons, and accomplish this objective, he was possibly in one case a daughter, tended the livestock consigned to preparingto depart expecting neither a share of the family's income their fathers. In good years, the nor an inheritance from Laban. family could accumulate its own By initiating the first herding livestock, which became part of the contract shortly after Jacob's arrival family estate, but in poor years, debts arose. At a certain point, at Harran, Laban intended to exeither when the head of the family clude Jacob from the family's holdwas no longer able to continue his ings but to retain his services as a activities or when they were old herdsman. The herding contract enough, the sons began to contract both defined Jacob's status as a hirefor themselves. The family's ecoling and served to protect the faminomic patterns, however,persisted ly's estate from depletions that over many generations, with its might arise from Jacob's failures members functioning as a unit for and to guarantee that Jacob's successes would accrue to the benefit the common benefit. In the case of Jacoband Laban, of the family. However, Jacob's re-

arrangement

changed significance

henling

160

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

quest for Rachel as his wages, an unusual form of payment for herding contracts, altered the straightforwardarrangementthat Labanenvisioned and changed the significance of the herding contract. Because Jacobtendered his service as a bridepricefor a wife and Laban accepted it, the herding contract became the first part of a marriage agreement. As a result, the second principal theme of the story, the marriagetheme, is introduced and becomes tightly interwoven with the herding theme from the beginning of the story. In order to understand Laban'sbehavior with respect to the herding enterprise, the nature of the marriageagreement must be examined. Brideprice,Dowry, and the MarriageAgreement As is known from Nuzi and other ancient Near Eastern centers, in the customary marriageagreement, the father of the bride would equip his daughterwith a dowry, a sort of premortem inheritance or the daughter'sshare of the family estate. Upon receipt of the brideprice, the bride and her dowry would pass to the groom. A contract might be drawn up to record such a transaction and to stipulate certain terms of the agreement (Grosz 1981: 161-82). The issue of dowry remains unresolved for most of the story and is central to Rachel and Leah'scomplaint against their father. They state: Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father'shouse? Are we not regardedby him as foreigners? Forhe has sold us, and he has been using up the money given for us. (Genesis 31:14-15) Their points are that (1) they can expect no share of their father's estate either in the form of dowry or inheritance; (2) without a dowry, they have not been treated in a manner suitable for female members of a family; and (3) "the money

given for us'Lthat is, the money received as a brideprice, in this case its equivalent, which was sometimes used to provide for the bride's dowry-is not available for that purpose. Thus, it is clear that Laban had made no provision for a dowry for his daughters, and his unwillingness to do so plays a prominent role in the narrative. Jacob'srequests for his wives in Genesis 29:21 and Genesis 30:26 are more than simple requests for his wages; they are also requests that the marriageagreement be concluded. Laban'sresponse in each case is to keep Jacobin Harranas a hireling and to delay giving up part of his estate in the form of a dowry for his daughters.The substitution of Leah for Rachel was designed not only to marry off the less attractive daughter but also to induce Jacobto stay on for another seven years. Laban'sagreement to pay the oddly colored livestock in the herding contract of Genesis 30:27-34 was based on the fact that Jacob'sshare, small under normal circumstances (Finklestein 1968: 33-35), could be reduced substantially by manipulating the composition of the flock. In accordance with Jacob'sagreement to count all the normally colored stock as "stolen,"Labanrepeatedly attempted to put Jacobin the position of owing livestock at the end of the year. As noted above, the repayment of missing livestock was a fundamental aspect of the herding system of the Old Babylonian period and at Nuzi. Moreover,restitution for stolen livestock is specifically mentioned elsewhere in the biblical record (Exodus 22:12). Thus, Jacob would have become like the Nuzi herdsmen, who, through debt and dependence on the livestock owner, affiliated with his family permanently. Because Jacob would not have been able to leave, Laban would not have to change their relationship and complete the marriage agreement. Jacob forced a resolution to

The family perceived

sive scholarly investigation, requires further discussion.

gods, as

responsible for good and fortune passed one down genfrom eration were

the

to at

the

the family, individual

possessed held

the of

heart and who them

of the also

paternal of

authority head

next,

the

the house.

The Household Gods As is well known, the family gods were passed down from a father to his heir, normally his eldest son, and they were linked to the immovable property of the family. The individual who possessed the gods also held the paternal authority of the head of the house. The transmission of the gods from one generation to another representedthe continuity of the family line; one barredfrom the gods was considered disowned by the family. In addition, the fertility and good fortune of the family were the responsibility of the family gods. The family gods were not only the tie between the family unit and its property but also the very heart of the family (Draffkorn1957: 216-24; Greenberg 1962: 239-48; Deller 1981: 47-76). A text published recently by Ernest R. Lacheman and David I. Owen (1981:text 6) demonstrates that a woman who remained on the family property as heir to the estate might inherit the family gods. Rachel, however,had brothers whose inheritance claims superseded hers, so she was not likely to possess the gods had she stayed in Harran.In that Jacobwas never in the line of inheritance, Rachel was not attempting to right a wrong committed against Jacob.Rachel's theft of the gods, instead, relates to the nature of the family and her rela-

both the herding and marriagearrangements when he made his abrupt departurefrom Harran. Preceding his departure,he consulted with Rachel and Leah, who concluded that the dowry issue had been resolved. Their remark that "allthe propertywhich God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children"reflects the traditional treatment of a dowry as the wife's part of the couple's joint holdings that ultimately were passed on to their children. Thus, they considered themselves equipped with a proper dowry, tionship to it. though not by their father. The signal for the end to both One of the outstanding illustrathe herding and marriageissues is tions of the importance of the famiGenesis 31:19:"Labanhad gone to ly gods and their significance in shear his sheep, and Rachel stole family relationships is a wellher father'shousehold gods."Taking known but problematic dispute at the livestock that he had earned Nuzi. The materials are difficult to through his work, Jacobwas leaving interpret, so much so that two very when he was no longer under oblidifferent reconstructions have apgation to Laban.The second part of peared recently (Cassin 1981: the verse which relates to the 37-46; Deller 1981: 47-76). significance of the teraphim However, the central issues of the Nuzi case and those of the Jacob (household gods), a topic of exten-

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

161

and Laban story have certain points in common. The critical text (HSS 14 8: Lacheman 1950) presents the contradictorytestimonies of Pai-tilla and Akip-tashenni son of Tae. Paitilla swears that his mother Warhinuzu gave his household gods to Akip-tashenni and that Akiptashenni sold Warhi-nuzuand her daughter,Pai-tilla'ssister, into a foreign land. Akip-tashenni denies all. The identity of Akip-tashenni son of Tae is not clear. Moreover, the connection between Akiptashenni's alleged possession of the gods and sale of the two women is confounded by certain philological issues. According to Elena Cassin, Warhi-nuzuunlawfully removed the gods from the home of her deceased husband to that of her second husband, Akip-tashenni. She was sufficiently attached to the gods of her first family that she refused to leave them behind when she left to become part of another. (Alternatively, she may have resented the terms of the will-HSS 19 5: Lacheman 1962-by which her husband'sestate was divided.) Her illegal act was compounded when Akip-tashenni, who had no right to the gods, received them. Finally, Akip-tashenni, while retaining the gods, violated his responsibilities when he sold the women into another land. Karlheinz Deller's interpretation of the text treats the suit not as a family dispute but as a financial one. Pai-tilla charges that

to the sale of the family members before the gods, the role of the gods as protectors of family members, and the events that might have led to such a disastrous situation. Without further information, these questions must remain unanswered. The loss of the family gods, however, marks the disintegration of Pai-tilla'sfamily. As the two interpretations demonstrate, the difficulties of the text preclude secure parallels between the individuals involved and those in the Jacoband Labanstory beyond the facts that women, Warhi-nuzuand Rachel, are involved in taking the family gods and that the plaintiffs, Pai-tilla and Laban,both lost women of their families and their family gods. Both interpretations,however,draw on aspects of the significance of the family gods as understood from other materials. One emphasizes the undeniable emotional attachment of family members to their gods and the responsibilities of the keepers of the gods, and the other focuses on the paramount importance of the family gods and their role in the continuity of the family. The theft of the gods in the Jacob and Labanstory captures the essence of these issues. Rachel stole the teraphim when her departure from home was imminent. Not only did she respect the powers that had brought such fertility to Jacob'sfamily and flocks at Harran, the sphere of the teraphim, but she also, according to her remarks of Genesis 31:14-16, considered her-

Warhi-nuzu gave Akip-tashenni, a dealer/merchant, the gods and that Akip-tashenni retains the gods even though he sold Warhi-nuzu and her daughter into a foreign land as payment for the gods. That is, Pai-tilla was in such desperate economic straits that he was reduced to selling his mother and sister into slavery to retrieve his household gods. As Deller notes, the case raises important questions relating

self disowned and poorly treated by her father. Laban violated his responsibilities as keeper of the gods when he gave Rachel and Leah to Jacob without completing the marriage agreement and arranging for a dowry-that is, he treated them as "foreigners."His treatment of his daughters denied the essential nature of their family relationship, and so he abrogated his rights to the teraphim. Incidentally, Rachel's

162

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

Laban

his

violated

as responsibilities of the family keeper

gods

he

when

gave

and Leah to comwithout Jacob the marriage pleting and agreement Rachel

arranging a dowry.

for

reference to the "wayof women"as a means of deceiving her father (Genesis 31:35) is a rather pointed reminder of the consideration due to the women of his household. Laban,on the other hand, demonstrates his desperation in Genesis 31:25-30. Warnedto speak "[n]either good [n]orbad"to Jacob,he states that he can understand Jacob's desire to return home but not the theft of the gods. It is ironic that Laban,because of his efforts to protect the family's estate, should lose that which symbolized the family itself. Moreover,it is interesting that the "Harranconnection" in the patriarchalnarrativesdies out with this episode and the family of Jacob goes on independently. Thus, Rachel's theft of the teraphim underscores Laban'snegligence as head of the family and marks the breach in his immediate, as well as the more extended, family caused by their departureunder such circumstances. In the final confrontation between Jacoband Labanthe concerns and positions of both throughout the story are reiterated and resolved. Labanaddresses issues relating to his family, the holdings of which he was unwilling to alienate in the form of a dowry,

and his role as head of the family. Specifically, his accusations are similar to those of Pai-tilla at Nuzi: improper treatment of female family members (because they were carried off like prisoners of war) and unlawful possession of the teraphim. Jacob,though denying the latter accusation, acknowledges the illegality of the act in recognition of Laban'sposition in the family and his own status as a hireling and a son-in-law who had no right to the gods. Following apparentvindication of the second accusation, Jacobdefends himself against the charge of mistreating Rachel and Leah by reviewing his exemplary fulfillment of the herding agreements with Laban and Laban'srefusal to honor the contracts. Thus, Jacobshows that Laban,not he, caused the ruptures in Laban'sfamily situation. When Labanstates that everything is his own, he concedes that he had not formally transferredhis daughters and their children and the livestock to Jacob. Then he asks, what can he do for his daughters and their children, that is, how he can rectify the situation? The answer is, by establishing a covenant which includes the terms of the marriageagreement (Genesis 31:50). The covenant, in this case a treaty between free and equal parties, confirms the relationship between Jacoband Laban,and, at the same time, formalizes the marriageof Laban'sdaughters.With the completion of the marriage agreement, the terms of the first two herding contracts are finally fulfilled. It should be noted that the practices and customs of herding, more so than those of other occupations of the ancient Near East, make the herding theme a particularly effective complement to the marriage and family themes in the Jacob and Laban story. The herding contracts are echoed throughout the story (including the mandrake episode in Genesis 30:14-16 in

A nineteenth-centuryportrayal of Rachel and Jacob by Gustav Dore. Takenfrom Die Heilige Schrift Alten und Neuen Testamentsverdeutscht von D. Martin Luther (Stuttgart:Hallberger,n.d.).

which Leah "hires"Jacobfor the night) and are amplified in the marriage agreement. The cyclical nature of the herding enterprise provides a useful device for indicating the passing of the years, a point which Jacobemphasizes in Genesis 31:38 and 41. The fertility of the flocks is paralleled by the growth of Jacob'sfamily. Finally, because of the social and economic position of the herdsmen in the ancient Near East, particularly with respect to livestock owners, Jacob'semployment as a herdsman is especially suitable for describing his relationship to Laban. The practices and institutions

of Nuzi presented here are not unlike those of other settled centers of the Near East in the second millennium B.C.E. such as Mari, Alalakh, and Ugarit. Moreover,similar patterns are attested throughout the first millennium, and the herding practices persist to the present day in certain areas of the Near East. While the specific details concerning these practices do change (a fifteen-percent allowable loss rate for the herdsmen in the second millennium as opposed to a ten-percent loss rate in the first millennium, for example), the principles in herding and marriage agreements are common through-

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGISTISUMMER1983

163

Gordon,C. H. out the second and first millennia. 1937 The Story of Jacoband Labanin the As a result, similar concerns govLight of the Nuzi Tablets.Bulletin erned personal interactions in of the American Schools of Orienbusiness and family relationships tal Research66: 25-27. in the Near East over a long period 1964 Biblical Customs and the Nuzu Tablets.Pp. 21-33 in The Biblical of time. The abundant secondArchaeologist Reader 2, eds. D. N. millennium sources, insofar as they Freedmanand E. F Campbell, Jr. illustrate the fundamental issues GardenCity, NY: Doubleday and relationships, have broad ex(Anchor). Greenberg,M. planatory value for the fabric of 1962 Another Look at Rachel'sTheft of ancient Near Eastern society and the Teraphim.Journalof Biblical to reconstruct the context of help Literature81: 239- 48. the literature that is one reflection Grosz, K. of that society. 1981 Dowry and Bridepricein Nuzi. Pp. The Jacoband Labannarrative 161-82 in Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the includes none of the specific details Hurrians In Honor of Ernest R. through which it might be identiLacheman on his Seventy-fifth fied with a particularperiod. InBirthday,eds. M. A. Morrisonand stead, it draws on the universal D. I. Owen. Winona Lake,IN: Eisenbrauns. aspects of certain social and ecoKraus,E R. nomic practices. Hence, dating the 1966 Staatliche Viehhaltungim text to either the second or the first altbabylonischen Lande Larsa. millennium on the basis of Near Mededeelingender Koninklijke Eastern parallels is problematic. On NederlandseAkademie van the other hand, the broadercontext Wetenschappen,Afd. Letterkunde. Nieuwe Reeks, Deel 29. No. 5, of Near Eastern society informs the Amsterdam. story'sportrayalof the complex and Lacheman,E. R. lively relationships among a num1942 Excavations at Nuzi. ber of charactersand, so, lays the IV. Nuzi. Miscellaneous Textsfrom Part I. HarvardSemitic Series 13 foundation for literary analyses and other avenues of inquiry. (with R. H. Pfeiffer).Cambridge,

Bibliography

Cassin, E. 1981 Une Querelle de Famille. Pp. 37-46 in Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the Hurrians In Honor of Ernest R. Lacheman on his Seventy-fifthBirthday,eds. M. A. Morrisonand D. I. Owen. Winona Lake,IN: Eisenbrauns. Deller, K. 1981 Die Hausg6tterder Familie Shukrija S. Huja. Pp. 47-76 in Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the HurriansIn Honor of Ernest R. Lacheman on his Seventyfifth Birthday,eds. M. A. Morrison and D. I. Owen. Winona Lake,IN: Eisenbrauns. Draffkorn,A. 1957 Ilani/Elohim.Journalof Biblical Literature76: 216-24. Finklestein, J. J. 1968 An Old BabylonianHerdingContract and Genesis 31: 38f. Journalof the American Oriental Society 88: 30-36.

164

MA: HarvardUniversity Press. 1950 Excavations at Nuzi. V Harvard Semitic Series 14. Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversity Press. 1962 Excavations at Nuzi. VIII.Family Law Documents. HarvardSemitic Series 19. Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press. Lacheman,E. R., and Owen, D. I. 1981 Texts from Arraphaand from Nuzi in the YaleBabylonianCollection. Pp. 377-432 in Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the HurriansIn Honor of Ernest R. Lacheman on his Seventy-fifthBirthday,eds. M. A. Morrisonand D. I. Owen. Winona Lake,IN: Eisenbrauns. Morrison,M. A. 1981 Evidence for Herdsmen and Animal Husbandryin the Nuzi Documents. Pp. 257-96 in Studies on the Civilization and Culture of Nuzi and the HurriansIn Honor of Ernest R. Lacheman on his Seventyfifth Birthday,eds. M. A. Morrison and D. I. Owen. Winona Lake,IN: Eisenbrauns.

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

Pfeiffer,R. H. 1932 The Archives of Shilwateshub Son of the King. HarvardSemitic Series 9. Cambridge,MA: HarvardUniversity Press. Postgate,J. N. 1975 Some Old BabylonianShepherds and Their Flocks. Journalof Semitic Studies 20: 1-20. Speiser,E. A. 1930 New KirkukDocuments Relating to Family Laws. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research 10, ed. H. J. Cadbury. Cambridge,MA: American Schools of Oriental Research. 1964 Genesis. The Anchor Bible. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Thompson, T L. 1974 The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives;The Quest for the Historical Abraham. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift ffir die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 133, ed. G. Fohrer. Berlin:deGruter. 1978 A New Attempt to Date the Patriarchal Narratives.Journalof the American Oriental Society 98: 76-84. Van Seters,J. 1969 Jacob'sMarriageand Ancient Near East Customs: A Reexamination. HarvardTheological Review 62: 377-95. 1975 Abraham in History and Tradition. New Haven, CT:Yale University Press.

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Corinthians 10:13-16

2

by a Recently Illuminated Published Inscription by JamesE Strange (13)But we will not boast beyond limit, but will keep to the limits God has apportioned us, to reach even to you. (14)Forwe are not overextendingourselves, as though we did not reachyou; we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. (15) We do not boast beyond limit, in other men's labors;but our hope is that as your faith increases, our field among you may be greatly enlarged, (16)so that we may preach the gospelin landsbeyondyou, without boastingof workalreadydone in another'sfield. (Revised StandardVersion)

italicizedwordsin the abovequotation

T/he

"influence;' and "allotted territory."Finally Today's English Version (1966) simply follows the lead of the Revised Standard Version, using "limits" and "field'." What vexed ancient and modern commentators alike was that they could find so few other occurrences of the word that resembled Paul's usage in 2 Corinthians. In fact, only one verse really suggested itself. This appears in the noncanonical First Epistle of Clement, namely in 41:1. Each of us, brethren,in his own rank,must please God in good conscience, not oversteppingthe fixed kanon of his ministry, and with reverence. Thus Clement used the word somewhat in the sense of "sphere of influence," though he may have followed Paul's usage. Of course another possibility is that both Paul and Clement were depending on a special meaning already known in secular Greek.

from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians have been troublesome to commentators and translators for centuries. They represent two different translations of a single Greek word, kanon. This word almost always means "rule"or "standard"anywhere else, and it is the root word from which comes the English word "canon." Other attempts to translate the word into English during the past several hundred years have varied. The King James translators (1611) rendered it "rule"in this passage. Edgar Goodspeed (1935) preferred "limits"' "influence;' and "field."But The New English Bible (1961) uses "sphere."The New American Bible (1970), on the other hand, like Edgar Goodspeed, opts for three different translations for each of the three occurrences: "bounds,"

A

key

word

in

this

passage

has

long

vexed

commentators.

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It happens that just such a usage of kanon appeared in 1976. A discovery from ancient Galatia apparentlysolves this problem in 2 Corinthians. The find in question is an inscription in Latin and Greek chiseled into grey marble. The text was an edict of the local governor,Sotidius by name, who was appointed governorof Galatia by the emperor Augustus in about 13 A.D. Sotidius continued under Tiberius until about 15 A.D. His Excellency the governorwas concerned to follow up on an earlier edict of his that regulated public transportation.He particularly wanted the citizens of Sagalassus,which lay about sixty miles south of Antioch of Pisidia, to assume their responsibilities in providing public transportation for officials of the empire. The word he uses for the schedule of services they were to perform within a designated territory is this same, troublesome Greek word, kanon. The opening lines of the inscription contain the word in question italicized. I also give enough lines to help us understand the governor'scontext. Sextus Sotidius StraboLibuscidianus,legate of (Tiberius)Caesar Augustus,acting as praetor, declares: It is indeedof all things most equitablethat I edict shouldbe tighteningup [from]my [previous] what the two Augustuses,the one the greatestof gods,the otherthe greatestof leaders,most carefully guardedagainst,namely,that no one would makeuse of transportfree,but, since the license ofcertainpeopledemandsimmediateaction,Ihave in the individualcities andvillagesa promulgated kanonof what I judgedesirableto be supplied,it beingmy intentionto maintainit, or,if neglected, enforceit, notmerelybymyownpowers,butbythe divinity of the excellent saviorAugustus,from whom I acceptedthis verything in my mandate. The "kanon"in question is simply first of all a list of items that travelling senators, knights, and other officials may requisition: mules, donkeys, carts, and accommodations. The edict also stipulates the fees that the Sagalassenes charge. Perhaps more important for understandingPaul, the edict also marks out the territorial limits of the service, namely, "as far as Cormasa and Conana" (lines 13 and 32 of the original). Furthermore, the Sagalassenes are free to negotiate their responsibilities with neighboring towns and villages within the territorial system (lines 12 and 34-35 of the original), but they may not elect not to cooperate. In other words, the Sagalassenes must provide the services and they must do it within a prescribed territory. A travelling senator or knight, then, could expect to see this edict posted somewhere, perhaps at

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the city gates of Sagalassus.This high official could then expect to be provided animals and carts for official travel, and the Sagalassenes could expect to be reimbursed for their expenses. The traveller could only expect to be transported"asfar as Cormasa and Conana"'but on the other hand the Sagalassenes could not refuse to provide transportationto any point within that designated area on the public roads. Paul'slanguage in the passage from 2 Corinthians reflects the two meanings of the term borrowed from the language of public service in almost every verse. For example God has "apportioned"the kanon, and Paul promises to stay within it. He says quite literally, "butaccording to the size of the kanon, which [size] God apportioned to us, to reach all the way to you."That is, God'skanon for Paul includes Corinth. He is insistent (verse 14) that he has not overextendedhimself, "asthough we did not reach you"'or as though his kanon did not include Corinth. Yet (verse 15) he does not boast in other men's labors (not infringing on their kanon), but hopes that as the faith of the Corinthians increases his kanon among them can be enlarged. His aim is that he should go on delivering his service of preaching the gospel, but in places or lands beyond them (verse 16). Even so, he has no desire to boast of work already done in another'skanon. The foregoing, then, helps us to understand both Paul'smeaning in 2 Corinthians and Clement's intent in 2 Clement. Paul was evidently referringto his understandingof his calling as including a territorial commitment. Although historically commentators have shied away from seeing this word as carryinggeographicalnuances, it certainly carries that meaning in the edict of Sotidius, and it fits both Paul'sand Clement's context. In other words, Paul means his schedule of services (preachingthe gospel) and his territory. Bibliography Horsley,G. H. R. 1981 New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity:A Review of the Greek Inscriptions and PapyriPublished in 1976. North Ryde,Australia:The Ancient History Documentary ResearchCentre. Mitchell, S. 1976 RequisitionedTransportin the Roman Empire:A New Inscriptionfrom Pisidia. Journalof Roman Studies 66: 106-31.

ivedocuments mentioningpolitical affair are Hazor, the major

Hazor have been published to date from the Mari archives, and two others have been referredto in the literature; now we can present one of these latter in fuller form. The Mari documents mentionor Hazorites (compare Hazor ing Malamat 1960, 1970,

and 1971) include two letters of Bahdi-Lim, prefect of the Mari palace, reporting to Zimri-Limhis king on movements of emissaries to and from places in the west (Parrot and Dossin 1950- [= ARM] VI, 23 and 78);an administrative text listing certain foreigners at the Mari court (ARM XII, 747); two economic texts on the tin trade with the west (ARM VII, 236, andA. 1270);a letteron messengers returning to their homes, sent by Shamshi-Adad of Assyria to his son by Yasmah-Adad,his viceroy at Mari (this is the earliest of these texts, datingfromthe time of the Assyrian interregnum at Mari); and now a letter of Zimri-Lim (or rather, a copy of it), the subject of our discussion (see sidebar for a transliteration and translation of this letter).

Palestine (see Pritchard 1969: 237f.). They are otherwise indicated only rarely by such evidence as a legal document in Akkadian found at Hazor ("200[shekels?]of silver";see Hallo and Tadmor 1977), and by sporadic finds of gold and silver objects in contexts of this period, mainly in tombs at such sites as Gezer and Megiddo. (The well-known gold objects from Tell elcAjjul, not far from Gaza,arefromthe very end of this period.)But surely neither Hazor nor any other site within Canaanwas the actual source of these materials,andwe must assume that the gold, at least, was brought from Egypt, the major supplier of that metal in antiquity. The letter well reflects certain practices andcontingencies in the current caravan trade.Thus, we learnof the Hazorites' detaining a caravan-a phenomenon far from unknown in antiquity. In our text the verb employed is kaliz, "to turies earlier, see Pettinato 1980 detain, hold back, stop,"frequent at and Edzard1981.) Mari especially in the corresponOur letter most probably dence of Bahdi-Lim(for instance, touches upon trade between Mari ARM VI, 18: 13' 16'; 19: 9f.; 23: 25, and Hazor, presumably through the 32; 31: 29). Usually it refers to mesland of Yamhad,and the robberyat sengers, but in this instance it inEmar of goods from Hazor destined cludes merchants and their assesfor Zimri-Lim at Mari. The mera caravan(compareARM X, 18: 10). chandise from Hazor, surprisingly, Another interesting point concerns was precious metals and stonesthe term kunukku in line 22, the the metal either as raw material or usual meaning of which is "seal," as finished products. This is a sigbut it can also mean a "sealed nificant indicator of the presence of document,"'as in our case, apparthese materials as commodities as ently referringto the "bill of sale" such in the cities of Canaan in the for the purchase of the precious Middle Bronze Age II; several cengoods. Seals and sealed documents turies later, large quantities of gold played an important role within the and silver (both ingots and finished commercial apparatusof antiquity products)are listed among the booty in general (compare,for instance, seized by Thutmose III in northern ARM XIII,6: 18-22) and caravan

Canaanite city of northern Palestine, and Emar (modern Meskene; compare Margueron 1975), an emporium on the Great Bend of the Euphrates,on the route between Mari and Yamhad.(ForEmar as a bone of contention between Mari and Ebla, a great power several cen-

"Silver, Gold,

and PreciousStones

from Hazor"in a New Mari Document Abraham

Background This text requiresan explanationof the topical context. Though the exact circumstances escape us, this letter is an additional item in the evergrowing file on the complex and fluid relations then prevailing between Mari and Yamhad (with its capital at Aleppo). Zimri-Lim has addressedhis letter to Yarim-Lim, king of Yamhad-his patron and father-in-law.The two other principal factors in this commercial-

Malamat

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

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trade in particular, as can clearly be seen in the Old Assyrian caravan texts from Cappadocia, a few decades older than the Mari archives (compare Larsen 1967; Gibson and Biggs 1977). The specific mention that the "sealed document" was also stolen indicates that the "cupbearer" was left bare of documentation concerning the legal conclusion of the transaction at Hazor; that is, he had no proof that he had come into possession of the goods legally. Finally, in sending this letter it was not Zimri-Lim's intention merely to draw Yarim-Lim's attention to the full extent of the episode: He apparently regarded Yarim-

Halab Emar r Ebla , )*Qatna

10

*Hazor

100 200 km

Map of the trade route between Mari and Hazor as suggested in the letter from Zimri-Lim,king of Mari, to Yarim-Lim,king of Yamhad.

To Yarim-Lim, say, thus Zimri-Lim, your son: Concerning the cupbearer(?),you have written me as follows: Thus you (say):"This man appropriatedfrom Hazor silver, gold, and precious stone(s) and went off to you. And (hence) the Hazorites have detained the asses and the persons who came up for trade, saying as follows: 'The cupbearer(?) appropriatedthe silver, gold, and precious stone(s) and went off to Zimri-Lim.'" This is what you have written to me.

Certainly this man has not brought to me any silver, gold, or precious stone(s). Rev. At Emar that man 20 was seized and violated, nay, robbedof all that he was carrying.The sealed document (attesting)that this man had bought (goods)for money was taken from him. Verily,this man, to save

170

0

Dead Sea

15

25

Marin

Babylon

I'

Translation 5

4

his life, fled to me. Now, my father, concerning that man ...... (about a dozen lines) ...... he May (someone at Yamhad?)write to Emar,and may the belongings of that man be taken to my father.

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

Transliteratio [a-n]a I[a-ri-i]m-Li-[i]m qi - b[i] - ma um-ma Z[i-im-r]i-[L]i-im [ma-ru] - ka-a - ma ash-shum awil[D]E.A(?)ki-a-am ta-ash-pu-r[a-am] 5 um-ma at-ta-a-maawilum shu-u i-na Ha-sil-ra-akikaspam hurasam i abnam da-mi-iq-tamit-[b]a-lam-maa-na se-ri-ka it-ta-al-kamii awilu Ha-su-ra-yuki 10 sa-ba-a[m]sha a-na tam-ka-ru-tim imerreha il-lu ka-lu-uium-ma-a-miawilDE.A(?) kaspam hurasamA abnam da-mi-iq-tam [i]t-ba-al-maa-na se-er Zi-im-ri-Li-im [i]t-ta-al-k[am]an-ni-tamta-ash-pu-ra-am 15 mi-im-ma awilum shu-ui kaspam huraisamii abnam da-mi-iq-tam a-na se-ri - ia ui-ulub-la - am Rev. awilam sha-a-tui-na I-ma-arki 20 is-ba-tu-maui-ba-zi-hu-shu i mi-im-ma sha na-shu i-ki-mu-shu ku-nu-ka - am sha a-na kaspim awilum shu-uii-sha-mu it-ba-lu-shuui awilum shu-u i-na pa-an 25 na-pi-ish-tima-na se-ri-ia ui-se-emi-na-an-naa-[b]iash-shumawilim sha-a-tu ...... (about a dozen lines) ...... [a-na]I-ma-arkili-ish-pu-ur-ma [ba]-shi-itawilim sha-a-tua-na se-er a-bi-iali-il-q1-1u -

Zimri-Lim, king of Mari, is shown offering burnt sacrifice and libation before a god who is seated on a throne of mountains and wears a headdress with a crescent moon. This scene is one segment of a large mural painting that decorated the audience chamber in the palace of Zimri-Limat Mari.

Note Philological

S.115,

No.

on

72-16

This tablet presents few philological problems, where legible, beyond the word awilDt.A which appearsin lines 5 and 11. We preferto read this word as "cupbearer." (M. Birot transcribesthis word as LU.SIMUG .A, translating it as "le forgeron(?)"-thatis, "smith")Indeed, the word awilDt.A is attested several times at Mari where, inter alia, it has been equated with Akkadian shaquz,translated variously by the and "6chanson"(that is, "cupbearer"). French as "irrigateur," "fondeur," Significantly, an El-Amarnatext equates by way of a gloss: miDmesh / sha-qi(!)-tu4, which context clearly refers to "women cupbearers"(EA 369: 8, where Amenhotep III asks the king of Gezer for forty pretty and see the logogram alone, in lines 13 and 15 there; "barmaids"; Rainey 1970: 36-37 and 80 [shaqitu]).In the context of our letter, too, seems most suited, like the shaqu^sin ARM VI, 49: "cupbearer" 5 "silver and gold, the utensils of the cupbearers(sha-qi-i),"and in ARM XIII,22: 13ff. (and 34ff.), where '"Appuhillassunuthe cupbearer was to have received silver and gold vessels for the palace. (sha-qdi-6)" Thus, we can see in the shcaquza royal official, reminiscent of the usage of the cognate in Aramaic and in the Bible (the "butler"of Genesis of 1 Kings 10:5 and Nehemiah 1:11[MT vs. 13];com40:1;"cupbearer" pare ?ar-hamashqim of Genesis 40-41 and rab shaqe of 2 Kings 18-19 = Isaiah 36-37).

Lim as liable for his loss and, seeking redress, urged him to investigate at Emar. We can presume that this is what the damaged section on the reverse contained; this can be inferred from the passages immediately before and after the lacuna. In reconstructing the specific circumstances of our letter, we must also take into consideration the power play between the entities directly involved within the political configuration of the day in Syria. The Mari archives have been relatively generous in this regard concerning relations between Mari and Yamhad; less is known of MariEmar and Yamhad-Emar relations, and nothing (except our letter) is known of contacts between either Yamhad or Emar and Hazor. Another difficulty is the lack of a dating for our document, within the overlap of the reigns of Zimri-Lim and Yarim-Lim in the eighteenth century B.c. Zimri-Lim's dependence upon Yarim-Lim, and their marital affinity, are reflected here in the phrases "your son" (line 4) and "my father" (line 26 and the final line). But Zimri-Lim was far from being an ironbound vassal, and he was sufficiently independent to dare to bring pressure to bear upon YarimLim in order to obtain assistance in a true time of need.

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Man0 last century, few have provedas significant as Mari. Locatedon the Upper EuphratesRiver in Syria, Mari (modernTell Hariri)marked the convergenceof trade routes running to the west and south, giving the city access to both the Mediterraneanand Babylonia.The Sumerian king list attests to the antiquity of the city, claiming it was the tenth dynasty founded by the heavens after the flood. It enjoyed its greatest prosperity around 1800 B.C. when, at a time that southern Mesopotamia was unable to exert military control over its northern vassal states, Mari became the focus of intense trading activity with other city-states throughout the ancient Near East. While much of its trade was concerned with tin, an essential ingredient in the manufacture of bronze, Mari also produced a considerable arrayof goods which found ready markets. Eventually, Mari presented too great a threat to her neighbors in the south, and in about 1760 B.C.Hammurapi of Babylon destroyedthe city. Though later occupied in the Assyrian and Seleucid periods, Mari never again achieved the prominence it held in the Middle Bronze Age. Modern excavations at Mari began in 1933 under the sponsorship of the Louvre,and continued for twenty-one seasons, until 1975. Among the major discoveries at the city were temples to Ishtar, Shamash, Dagan, Ishtarat,and Ninhursag; a ziggurat;and many statues of individual rulers and other citizens. The statuary from the third millennium B.c.shows individuals with clearly Semitic features;this demonstrates that Mari was a Semitic state some three hundred years prior to Sargonof Akkad'sconquest of Mesopotamia, when the Sumerians were ousted by the Semitic Akkadian Empire.The excavations at Mari were renewed in 1979 under the direction of Jean Margueron,with J.-M. Durand heading the epigraphicteam. Mari is chiefly known for its royal palace and the remarkablecollection of cuneiform tablets which was found in it. The palace was an impressive center of administration with over three hundred rooms housing a royal chapel, workshops, guest rooms, and ceremonial chambers. The tablet collection, numbering around 20,000 individual documents, reflects the multitude of activities which swirled around the palace, from taxation records to personal correspondenceamong members of the royal family. These archives provide rich detail on the social organization of the kingdom, the legal and economic conditions which regulatedMari'sfar-flungtrading empire, and the impact of nomadic groups on urban centers in the ancient Near East. A number of the Mari tablets are of considerable importance to biblical scholars for their glimpse into the religious conceptions, social customs, and trade relationships that were part of the biblical world. Readersdesiring more information on Mari will find Professor Malamat'searlier summary of the discoveries at Mari of value; see "Mari"in BA volume 34 (1971),pages 1-22. For the biblical connections with Mari, ProfessorMalamat'smajor studies are available in collected form, Mari and the Bible: A Collection of Studies, second edition (Jerusalem:Hebrew University, 1980). Of particularinterest is. the excavator'sown summary of the findings and their value; see Andre Parrot, Mari, capitale fabuleuse (Paris:Payot, 1974).

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Emar was a vital link in Mari's trade to the north, especially with Yamhad and its capital Halab (Aleppo), only some fifty miles to the west. Mari, at the peak of its power under Yahdun-Lim, Zimri-Lim's father, had controlled Emar for a time, as attested by the year formula: "The Year when Yahdun-Lim Defeated Emar."The Assyrian conquest of Mari broke this hold, and eventually Yamhad stepped in and took over Emar. The Mari dynasty was restored after some twenty years of Assyrian rule, when ZimriLim regained his father's throne with the aid of Yarim-Lim, his patron. From various Mari texts it emerges that Emar apparently long held animosity for Mari, occasionally disrupting smooth communications with Yamhad, including the detention of vital grain cargoes during a famine at Mari. Our letter points to a further incident in the strained relations between Emar and Mari, and again seems to depict Emar as under Yamhadean control-witness Zimri-Lim's appeal to Yarim-Lim concerning a felony committed there. Far-off Hazor appears on the southwestern periphery of the sphere of diplomacy and trade at Mari. Its eminence in this period is reflected in the archaeological excavations conducted on the site by Professor Yadin, as well as in the image projected retrospectively in the Bible: "Hazor was formerly head of all those kingdoms" (Joshua 11:10; and compare Yadin 1972: chapters 4, 5, 7, and 8, and appendix 2 [201-06]; Yadin 1976; Mazar 1968; and Malamat 1960). Unlike Emar, however, Hazor was a sovereign state at this time, neither a client of Yamhad nor of Qatna, the important kingdom which lay in between. Indeed, such direct relations as Hazor's with other centers-as with Mari and, much farther away, Babylon (ARM VI, 78)--were usually only the prerogative of independent or quasi-independent

states. Relations between Mari and Hazor, both commercial and diplomatic, appearto have been correct and cordial-with the exception of the incident now revealed in our letter. Reconstruction of Events Against this background,let us now review the chain of events in our letter as they seem to have occurred (though other scenarios are certainly possible). The letter before us deals with two separatebut related incidents.

sponsibilityandheld that the "cup- at Hazor. The outcome of the

bearer"was indeed on his way to Mari along with the goods. As for the caravan,Yarim-Limstresses that it was not he who detained it but the Hazorites, and their complaint appearedto him to be justified and serious.

The SecondEpisode.In the meanwas seized, time, the "cupbearer" beaten,and robbedwhile passing throughEmaron the usual routeto Mari.He lost not only the goods fromHazorbut-accordingto himeven the bill of sale provingthat he had indeedpaidfor the 'goods.The The First Episode. An official or "cupbearer" escapedfromEmar"by messenger of the Mari palace, denoted here as "cupbearer," left Hazor the skin of his teeth"and reached Zimri-Limat Mari,wherehe made with "silver,gold, and precious his without finalizpredicamentknown.Zimri-Lim apparently stone(s)," dispatcheda second letter-our ing the transaction to the satisfacwritten tion of the Hazorites. The Hazor au- letterA-to Yarim-Lim, somewhatin despair:Afterquoting thorities (the palace?),seeking to a passageof Yarim-Lim's letter B, protect their interests, detained a Zimri-Limbroughthim up to date merchant caravanfrom Mari. The correspondence concerning concerningthe foul play at Emar. He then appealedto Yarim-Lim these events included, in my opinas ion, three letters (in reverse order): his patron.His purposewas apparliable for ently to hold Yarim-Lim (A) the letter we are concerned his losses, since the venue of the with here, from Zimri-Lim to crimewas at Emar,a city subjectto Yarim-Lim;(B)the previous letter, Yamhad.And surely,he soughtto quoted in A, from Yarim-Limto Zimri-Lim; and (C) an assumed ini- prodhis patroninto action concerntial inquiry from Zimri-Lim to ing the recoveryof the stolen propYarim-Limconcerning the detenerty.Indeed,the Codeof Hammuration of the Mari caravanand the pi (comparePritchard1969:163ff.) orderscompensationforstolen who had fate of the "cupbearer" been commissioned to bring goods propertyby the authoritiesof the locale of the crime,in cases where from Hazor. In C the name of the the thief is not caught(paragraph was "cupbearer" probablygiven, in he letters though subsequent 23). The code also placesan obligation uponthe responsiblepartyto was referred to merely by his title or as "this/that man." Letter C may well have been sent to Yarim-Lim, king of Yamhad, urging him to inquire concerning the caravan at Hazor and apply his good services in obtaining its release. But if Zimri-Lim somehow suspected Yarim-Lim's complicity, as has been suggested,2 Yarim-Lim's reaction to letter C, as quoted in letter A, becomes clearer: The king of Yamhad seemingly denied all re-

search for stolen property (paragraph 125);and an investigation into a theft (of slaves and asses) in a foreign country is revealed in another Mari letter, remarkablyfrom the very same room in the palace as our document (compareARM XIV,51; I must thank J. Sasson for this reference).We can also assume that, in the lacuna on the reverse of the tablet, Zimri-Lim sought aid in securing the release of his caravan

events is, of course, entirely unknown to us. Obligations and Liabilities Our letter, then, concerns two separate incidents, one at Hazor and the other at Emar,both having in common the underlying theme of merchants or agents in trouble on foreign soil. It was no doubt just this sort of incident that led to the conclusion of interstate agreements giving protection to merchants abroad,as exemplified at Ugarit (thirteenth century B.C.;Nougayrol

1956, for instance RS 17.146 and 17.230, and RS 17.130 and 17.316; also compare Yaron 1969). In such a light we can also comprehend the claims of Kadashman-EnlilII, king of Babylon, against the Hittite king Hattushili III in the thirteenth century B.C.,following the murder of

Babylonian merchants in northern Syria (see Klengel 1980). Since the crime was committed in a locale subject to Hittite control, the Hittites were held liable and thus were sued for the damages. Two other instances of a ruler invoking the obligations of a second party to treaties, to protect messengers and caravans,are found in the ElAmarna letters (Knudtzon 1915), both addressedby BurnaburiashII of Babylonia to Amenhotep IV (Ikhnaton)of Egypt. In one letter (EA 7: 73-82), a Babylonian caravan has been plundered twice in regions under Egyptian jurisdiction, and the Babylonian monarch demands compensation from Egypt. In the other letter (EA 8: 13-34), Babylonian merchants travelling through Canaan have been robbed and murdered by henchmen of local vassals of Egypt (that is, the ruler of Akko). Burnaburiash admonishes Amenhotep: "Canaan (Kinahhi) is thy land and (its) kings are (thy servants). In thy land I have been violently dealt with. Bind (them, and) the money which they have stolen ma(ke) good" (lines 25-27; Mercer

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1937: 27). He then warns and advises Amenhotep that the roads must be kept secure lest communications break down and Egypt thus lose control over its vassals. In our letter, Zimri-Lim too would have done well to advise Yarim-Limof a similar message, for its purportwas universal and timeless. Acknowledgments I am most obliged to M. Maurice Birot for providing me with a transliteration (and a preliminary translation in French)of this document, and for kindly granting me permission to present it here. He is not, of course, responsible for any deviations from his transliteration as published herein. (See his brief outline of the document in Birot 1973.) I also wish to thank R. Grafman for comments during preparation of the initial version of this article. Notes This article has been revised and expanded from the author'scontribution to the Yigael YadinFestschrift (Malamat1982), where a fuller apparatusis to be found. The author is gratefulto the editor of that volume, Dr. Geza Vermes,for allowing publication of the present version. ICAD K 1971:543ff. I owe the suggestion that the word here refersto a document ratherthan to a seal per se to Yigael Yadin; for this usage, see Leemans 1982. 2Zimri-Limmay have claimed that it was Yarim-Limwho brought about the detention of the caravanand of the "cupThis was suggested orally by B. bearery" Mazarduring a discussion of our letter. In contrast, Yigael Yadinhas orally expressed the belief that only two letters were involved:In the first Yarim-Limaccused Zimri-Lim,holding that a caravanfrom Yamhad (andnot from Mari!)had been detained at Hazor because of the misdeeds of the from Mari;and he demanded "cupbearer" that Zimri-Limrectify the matter. In our letter, the second of the two accordingto Yadin,Zimri-Limpresented a counterclaim, including the claim of foul play committed against the Mariote official on territory belonging to Yamhad.

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Bibliography ARM See Parrotand Dossin 1950. Birot, M. 1973 Nouvelles d6couvertes6pigraphiquesau palais de Mari (salle 115).Syria 50: 10f. CAD K 1971 Vol. K in The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. EA See Knudtzon 1915. Edzard,D. O. 1981 Neue Erwigungenzum Brief des Enna-Daganvon Mari (TM.75.G.2367).Studi Eblaiti 4: 89ff. Gibson, McG., and Biggs, R. D., editors 1977 Seals and Sealing in the Ancient Near East (Bibliotheca Mesopotamica6). Malibu, CA: Undena Publications. Hallo, W W., and Tadmor,H. 1977 A Lawsuit from Hazor.Israel Exploration Journal27: 1-11. Klengel, H.. 1980 Mordund Bussleistung im spitbronzezeitlichen Syrien. Pp. 189ff. in Death in Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia8), ed. B. Alster. Copenhagen:Akademisk Forlag. Knudtzon, J. A. 1915 Die El-Amarna-Tafeln. Leipzig: Hinrichs. Larsen,M. T 1967 Old Assyrian CaravanProcedures. Istanbul:Nederlands HistorischArchaeologischInstituut. Leemans,W. F. 1982 La fonction des sceaux apposes A contrats vieux-babyloniens.Pp. 219- 44 in Zikir Sumim: Assyriological Studies Presented to F R. Kraus,eds. G. van Driel, Th. J. H. Krispun,M. Stol, and K. R. Veenhof.Leiden:E. J.Brill. Malamat, A. 1960 Hazor,The Head of All Those Kingdoms. Journalof Biblical Literature 79: 12ff. 1970 Northern Canaan and the Mari Texts. Pp. 164-77 in Near Eastern Archaeology in the TWentiethCentury (Essaysin Honor of Nelson Glueck), ed. J.A. Sanders.Garden City, NY: Doubleday. 1971 Syro-PalestinianDestinations in a Mari Tin Inventory.Israel Exploration Journal21: 31-38. 1982 "Silver,Gold and Precious Stones from Hazor."Tradeand Troublein a New Mari Document. Journalof

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Jewish Studies (Y.YadinFestschrift) 33(1-2): 71-79.

Margueron,J. 1975 Quatre campagnesde fouilles A Emar (1972-1974).Syria 52: 53-85. Mazar,B. 1968 The Middle BronzeAge in Palestine. Israel ExplorationJournal 18: 65-97. Mercer,S. A. B. 1939 The Tell El-AmarnaTablets I. Toronto:Macmillan. Nougayrol,J. 1956 Le palais royal d'Ugarit IV.Paris:C. Klincksieck. Parrot,A., and Dossin, G., editors 1950- Archives royales de Mari. Paris:P. Geuthner. Pettinato, G. 1980 Bollettino militare della campagna di Ebla contro la cittA di Mari. Oriens Antiquus 19: 89ff. Pritchard,J. B., editor 1969 Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Rainey,A. F. 1970 El-AmarnaTablets 359-379. Neukirchen-Vluyn:Butzon and BerckerKevelaer. Yadin,Y. 1972 Hazor (SchweichLectures 1970). London:OxfordUniversity Press. 1976 Hazor.Pp. 747ff. in Encyclopediaof Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land II, ed. M. Avi-Yonah. Jerusalem:Israel Exploration Society and MassadaPress. Yaron,R. 1969 ForeignMerchants at Ugarit. Israel Law Review 4: 70-79.

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, ..1. .. lI

The

Rediscoveryof a Technique of Craftsmen Roman-Byzantine

by

Robert

Houston theirwritings the

T~hrough

people of the ancient world have told us a great deal about themselvestheir rulers, their wars, their religious beliefs, and their business affairs, not to mention all sorts of trivia that they never expected would be preserved.They often failed, however, to describe the procedures that were followed in ancient crafts, particularly the ways in which artistic designs were executed, be it jewelry,wall paintings, or formal gardens. Only a few classical writers-chiefly

the Roman

engineer Vitruvius in his De Ar-

Smith chitectura around the turn of the Christian era and, to a much lesser extent, Pliny the Elder almost a century later in his vast smorgasbord of information, the Naturalis

out the pattern of a mosaic? One perhaps might be inclined to suppose that such work was the unique expression of the artistic skill of each individual craftsman. CertainHistoria -described some of the ly such was the case with the great principles and methods that crafts- works of art in the ancient world, men employed in the production of even as today; but how did ordinary certain kinds of decorative stoneartisans manage to achieve excellence of results? Many craftsmen work; and even then, what they chose to discuss gives us only a must have had limited artistic abilipartial understanding of the practy, yet we know that from the Heltice of these crafts. lenistic period onwardthere existed How did a Roman stone carver a remarkablyhigh level of routine proceed when designing the decora- technical and artistic achievement tion for a sarcophagus?How did a in carved stone and tessellation in Byzantine artisan go about laying many parts of Europe, North Africa,

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and the Near East. It should be noted at the outset that the arts that we shall discuss under the heading of decorative stonework tended in Roman and Byzantine times to be several distinct crafts, particularly in metropolitan areas where a relatively high degree of specialization was practicable. In addition to the masons who installed decorative stone facing on buildings, there were those who laid cobblestone pavement, even as craftsmen still do today in some parts of the world. A separate group of artisans engaged in decorative carving on stone, such as would be needed for sarcophagi and funerary monuments, while still other craftsmen produced mosaics. This division of labor affordedthe possibility of a relatively high level of competence in the respective crafts. An important factor so far as crafts were concerned was the lack of methods of mass production. It was seldom possible for a design that a master artist created to be machine-duplicated in quantity. In only a few instances, such as glass and ceramic production, was the molding of vessels practiced in the Greco-Romanworld, and even then not exclusively. Handworkmanship was everywherethe rule. Each book, each piece of cloth, each pair of shoes, and each soldier's shield had to be custom-made. The factories that existed for the production of the goods needed-or wanted-by society relied heavily on human energy and manual skills. The problem of achieving competence in decorative stonework was further complicated by the general lack of a pool of minimally educated persons that crafts could draw upon for manpower. Basic education was not universal. Large numbers of persons entering the labor market were unable to read and write or to accomplish more than the simplest addition and subtraction-if indeed that much-

176

An ossuary (a receptacle used in a tomb for the storage of the bones of a deceased person) from the vicinity of Jerusalem,dating from about the first century A.D.Length is 55 centimeters. The six-petal rosettes were laid out by geometric means, while the undulating design within the borderwas carved freehand. Photographis by Thomas Shifflerand is used courtesy of Ashland College.

and there was rarely an opportunity for a craftsman to receive an education while on the job. This limitation had a significant bearing on craft procedures. From a study of representative works it is possible to reach certain conclusions about how artisans devised and executed their designs in stone. Of particular interest are geometric patterns, which lent themselves to the standardizationof design procedures.We shall consider several examples, ranging over four centuries of the Roman and Byzantine periods. Though executed in different stone media, these examples have in common a reliance upon geometry-not so much that of academicians as a very practical kind devised by inventive and persistent master artisans through long experimentation. Using the same two basic tools that academic geometers used, the straightedge-or the set square, which is a geometric

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

elaboration of the straightedgeand the compass, unlettered but carefully trained craftsmen could efficiently produce sophisticated decorative patterns in stone, and for that matter in wood and other media as well. Our first example is a sarcophagus that I had occasion to study closely some years ago. Slightly over two meters long, it was found in 1958 in a rock-cut tomb on Jebel Mukabbir,a large hill about two kilometers south of Jerusalem,and later was deposited in the Jordan Archaeological Museum in Amman. Stylistic features date this delicately made limestone coffin to the relatively short period extending from the last third of the first century through about the first half of the second century A.D. The front contains a long bas-relief on a panel; the right end and back are embellished with undecorated square bosses. The frieze shows the influence of classical Greek art, con-

Radial incisions on the base of a Roman capital from Pella show the division of the stone into sixteen equidistant segments as a guide to the stone carver.

sisting of a modified form of metope and triglyph-that is, square panels separatedfrom one another by strong vertical elements. Although inherently important for a number of reasons, including its date and cultural milieu, the sarcophagus is particularly interesting for our purposes because the frieze was generated solely by geometric processes. (See the boxed material accompanying this article for a demonstration of how the panel was designed by the craftsman, utilizing only a straightedge and a compass.) This geometric method of design-layout should not be regardedas trivial. It reflects a widespread application of geometry to problems of design. Closely related to sarcophagi in this style are ossuaries that have been found by the hundreds in Roman Palestine; the specimen shown in the illustration here is representative.These limestone containers were used as re-

positories for the bones of the dead, which local custom dictated should be gathered up and preservedinside rock-cut family tombs, particularly in the area around Jerusalem.Although there was variety in the decorative motifs placed on these receptacles, most designs were geometric and can be shown to have been based in varying degrees on applied geometry similar to that employed in the decoration of the Jebel Mukabbirsarcophagus.The most frequently used motif was that of the geometrically designed rosette. It would seem that as a matter of both principle and practice these craftsmen who decorated sarcophagi and ossuaries deliberately avoided making measurements or performing arithmetic calculations when laying out their designs. In view of the fact that all sarcophagi and ossuaries differ somewhat in size, it is likely that precise mensuration was not employed even in

the preliminary stage of roughingout the dimensions of the receptacles. In those instances in which geometry was unnecessary or unwanted, craftsmen seem to have preferredfreehand sketches or visual dimensioning rather than arithmetical calculations. Geometrical designs in three dimensions could also be executed without mensuration. Although traces of the method of layout were generally removed during finishing, masons' marks occasionally have survived. One such instance is a capital found in the spring of 1983 in area IX at Pella, Jordan,during excavations conducted by The Sydney-WoosterJoint Expedition to Pella under my direction. Cut in the Roman period and reused in Byzantine times in the Civic Complex Church, it displays on its base sixteen equidistant straight lines radiating from the center point, aligned with the comers and center

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

continued on page 180

177

points of the faces of the capital. These geometrically generated lines divided each of the four identical faces of the capital into four smaller units. These incisions, together with lines which were probably scratched horizontally on each of the faces, formed a grid by which standardizeddesigns could be marked out on the stone. By this means a capital of any needed dimensions could be designed simply and quickly; all that the craftsman needed was a pattern book, a straightedge,and a compass. Yet another kind of stonecraft involving geometry is a mosaic which we found at Pella in the spring of 1979. The pavement was situated in a chamber adjoining the large Civic Complex Church, a structure built in about the fourth or fifth century A.D. The mosaic was only partly preserved;its southwestern edge retained its border, but the other three sides had been destroyedby later construction. At one or more times prior to its abandonment it had undergone minor repairs at the hands of relatively unskilled workmen, with the result that some of its small stone cubes, or tesserae, were not so neatly arrangedas they originally had been. Because of soil subsidence beneath it, the mosaic was in poor condition and for various reasons could not be preservedin its find-spot; consequently, during the 1980 season our conservator,Alistair Marshall, lifted the best-preserved portion, which he realigned and

Mosaic fragment from Pella of the Decapolis, being preparedfor removal and curatorial work. Heavy cloth is being glued to the surface, after which much of the cement bedding will be cut away from behind and the decorative stonework will be rebacked with cement. Photographis by Douglas Kuylenstierna.

sign executed in tesserae of slightly different colors, one of which-a

drabgray,used only as the "eye" (the central tessera which was laid down first as a registration guide for the positioning of other tesrebacked for preservation. serae)-was of poor quality stone. Our interest here is not in the techTopologically the problem that the mosaicist had to solve was one nique by which the mosaic was inof tiling a surface, but it was a situ- stalled on its specially preparedceation in which theoretical factors ment bedding but the way in which the design was conceived and laid were compounded by the aesthetic considerations of pattern and color. out. (See pages 182 through 184 for The mosaic was executed chiefly in a description of the procedures black, white, and red limestone tes- carried out by the mosaicist.) The pattern has parallels in serae, each about one centimeter mosaics found at a number of other square. It has as its central motif a eastern-MediterraneanByzantine stylized leaf or floret, a small de-

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sites, not only farther south in Transjordanat Madebabut at more distant places such as Antioch-onthe-Orontes in Syria. Although we may suppose that some craftsmen were accustomed upon occasion to travel long distances to install mosaics, it is impossible that all of the mosaics displaying this pattern were executed by a single artisan. It is increasingly recognized that mosaicists made use of books containing patterns, somewhat like wallpaper pattern books of today. When starting to tessellate a floor, the artisan (or his customer) would select a desired design from among the samples. That collection

may have contained not only comIt would have been plete patterns but also drawings somewhat like the ones here, showthe task of the ing step by step how the mosaic to be It was constructed. would to master craftsman have been the task of the master craftsman to mark out the geometout geometric ric lines, install registration testo serae to guide the journeymen who lines, install were laying out the tesserae, and tesserae generally to supervise all phases of the installation. The artisan could the to not simply trace the design from a who pattern book directly onto the floor, journeymen starting at one side and working his the out were way toward the opposite side. In order to make his design symmetriand tesserae, cal within the available space he had to proceed by geometry at every to superstage; in this way he would produce not only attractive individual units vise of the al of design but also a symmetrical installation. overall pattern without breaks or awkwardjunctures of units. These patterns must have been in the book would have been diaper of several basic kinds, all of which could be executed without recourse patterns, consisting of geometric to measurements or arithmetic cal- designs such as that of the central culations. Some would have been part of the Pella mosaic, to be laid nonsymmetrical designs set against out with straightedgeand compass a plain backgroundand enclosed according to practices of applied within a simple border,descended geometry. Any given pattern could be repeated as often as the craftsfrom earlier Hellenistic-Roman man desired, and at whatever scale decorative panels called emblemawas appropriate.A necessary comta. These customarily displayed a panion to diaper patterns would single motif (animal, human, stillhave been borderdesigns, suitable life, or symbolic), and may well have been supplied with a superim- for edging the central geometric designs in a manner that would sugposed grid of eight, sixteen, thirtytwo, or sixty-four equidistant gest a carpet. These, too, needed to be adaptableto a variety of shapes horizontal and vertical lines (the and sizes of two-dimensional surquantity being a function of the faces and hence also requiredgeoamount of anticipated change of metric layout rather than a simple scale, the intricacy of the design, and the recommended tessera size). change of scale. The repertoryof mosaic deThe grid made it possible for the mosaicist to be able to enlarge the signs was developed over many generations by master artisans, who scale of the design as desired; if no doubtless guardedtheir pattern grid was actually provided, the books as highly valuable assets. To craftsman could easily superimpose be sure, after many years of supera suitable one with his compass and straightedge. This kind of devising the installation of mosaics, a master craftsman might well have sign involved geometry only to a minimal extent. learned by heart the steps required for the execution of some of the Another major class of designs

mark

registration guide

laying

generally

phases

most popular patterns. It is unlikely, however,that he could have committed all to memory; the operations necessary for the laying out of even a simple geometric pattern were, as we have seen, very specific and sequential. In actual practice a master craftsman may have followed slightly different procedures from those I have hypothetically reconstructed for the Pella mosaic, perhaps employing some shortcuts or occasionally changing the sequence of procedures slightly; but the geometric basis of the patterns requiredthat he proceed essentially as I have indicated here. This is not to say, of course, that all mosaics with repetitive patterns necessarily were laid out by geometric procedures,nor that educated artisans did not upon occasion resort to measurements and arithmetic calculations. The method by which the design of the Pella mosaic was constructed was, however, obviously the most practical one in light of the problems that the craftsman had to surmount. Our examples have come from the eastern end of the Mediterranean, on the fringes of the Roman Empire,but that fact in no way limits their validity as examples of Greco-Romanand Byzantine geometrically generated stone decoration. Often the provinces, particularly in the East, provided an especially vigorous amalgam of Hellenistic and Roman traditions. Indeed, one of the few mathematicians of the Roman period whose name has come down to us was one Nichomachus (who was born about 100 A.D.), whose mother-city of Gerasa was a scant thirty-four kilometers from both Jerusalem and Pella. Nichomachus stood in the neo-Pythagorean tradition, in which geometry had occupied a prominent position for centuries. That effective applications of geometry could evolve may also

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continued on page 185

181

owe something to the popularity of Euclid's Elements, written around 300 B.c. and, though generally ig-

Geometry

was

as of queen regarded nored by the Romans, eventually widely disseminated. A few Roman the and and Byzantine craftsmen may have been familiar with at least some to formal geometry; if so, they could presumably have performedgeometric operations all the more skillfully because of their knowledge. Yet the applied geometry employed dians, he observed geometrical in decorative stone-craftsmanship figures drawn there, and cried to his companions: 'Letus be of good does not require knowledge of Euclidean principles as such; it had cheer, for I see the traces of man.'" its origin in the quartersof master One is reminded of how Plato in the Meno had described with evicraftsmen and in the fields where dent pleasure the way in which an land to determine needed surveyors in uneducated slave could be led to the halls rather than ownership, see the truth of a geometric proof of academicians. It could not be in all of its intuited simplicity. Parbound by narrow academic or historical limits. The straightedge ticularly in the Pythagoreanand and compass were known in Egypt Platonic philosophical schools, and Mesopotamia during the third geometry had been propoundedas millennium B.C., and elements of having close correspondenceto in were known ultimate reality. It was regardedas practical geometry ancient Greece and Asia Minor being not just one of many discibefore the advent of Pythagorean plines; it was the queen of the sciences, and closely related to geometry. The circumstances under philosophy itself. For all his delight in the perwhich applied geometry was infection of geometric figures and into decorative stonework tegrated were thus different from those in proportions,Vitruvius was characwhich formal geometry, based on teristically Roman in his emphasis Euclid and carried further by inupon the utility of geometry for the solution of practical problems. AlRenaissance was thinkers, quiring the foundation of Renaissance inthough doubtless recognizing the tarsia. Still, too sharp a distinction need for providing some measurements when preparingplans from between academic and applied which builders could work, he aswould be unwarranted, geometry sumed that geometric procedures for the essential methods and were far more basic than arithmetic instruments were the same; only the degree of sophistication ones, and he mentions them often in De Architectura. In the catadiffered. logue of great human achievements Vitruvius, himself well educatwith which he opens his Book IX, ed, reflects the deeply ingrained he cites commitment of the people of the geometric discoveries more often than Greco-Roman world to the geometany other kind, and with He shows only enthusiasm. ric basis of design in both the great limited interest in the use of mensciences and the arts. "It is related suration in design, and prefers to of the Socratic philosopher Aristipuse pus," he says in his introduction to geometry whenever possible for the sixth book of De Architectura, dimensioning and dealing with "that, being shipwrecked and cast plane surfaces. ashore on the coast of the RhoThroughout De Architectura

sciences, related closely

philosophy itself.

Vitruvius alludes to the use of the straightedgeand the compass for design layout. He declares that the plans for a theater, whether in Greek or in Roman style, should begin with geometric figures (V.vivii), and he describes the geometric procedures to be followed in constructing a sundial (IX.vii)and a water screw (X.v).When he speaks, as he often does, of the need for the architect to divide a given segment into any desired number of equal parts, he presupposes a geometric method of division rather than an arithmetic one. Though it arose partly from philosophical interests, Vitruvius' enthusiasm for geometry also had a practical genesis. The Romans had great difficulty handling almost all aspects of arithmetic. They dealt in cumbersome fashion with multiplication and division, and could not carry out addition and subtraction efficiently without the use of the abacus. Vitruvius was clearly frustrated by the limitations imposed by the arithmetic of his time. He had no knowledge of the decimal point and was able to deal only with the simplest of fractions. It is not surprising that he favorednonarithmetical solutions to problems of design. Nor is it surprising, in view of the dearth of mathematical advancement throughout Roman and Byzantine times, that geometry continued to hold sway for centuries. Recognition of the importance of geometry in classical approaches to design has been slow in coming, partly because many investigators have probably unwittingly approached the subject with posteighteenth-century presuppositions. Since the rapid eclipse of geometry that came with the rise of modern mathematics during and following the Enlightenment, researchers have found it difficult to conceive of problems of two- and threedimensional design as the ancients did. Today we handle percentages

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

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and other arithmetic calculations with an ease that would have astonished Greco-Romandesigners, and we no longer suppose that ratios and geometric harmonies necessarily correspondto cosmic realities. Immersed as we are in mensuration, in arithmetical calculations, and in more complex mathematics, we are often inclined to assume that ancient people approached design very much as we would. The result has been that we have tended to focus disproportionateattention on the measurements of ancient buildings and stone artifacts, and in so doing have sometimes attributed to Roman and Byzantine craftsmen more arithmetical interest and capability than they actually had. As we become more aware of the importance of geometry in ancient theory and practice, we shall develop a new appreciation for the inven-

Q i0 co

Acknowledgment I wish to thank my assistant, Stephen T. Mooney, for preparing some of the drawings used in this article. Bibliography

Geometer'sset square (which served also as a straightedge)and several kinds of compasses and proportionaldividers, all of the Roman period. This drawing is based largely upon specimens dating from the first century A.D.found at Herculaneum, Italy.

tiveness with which artisans fashioned designs of beauty and sophistication using only a straightedgeand a compass.

Levi, D. 1971 Antioch Mosaic Pavements.Vol. 1. Rome:"L'Erma" di Bretschneider. MacDonald,W L. 1965 The Architectureof the Roman Empire. New Haven, CT:YaleUniversity Press. Morgan,H. M., translator 1914 The Ten Books on Architecture,by Vitruvius. Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press. Neal, D. S. 1976 Floor Mosaics. Pp. 241-52 in Roman Crafts, ed. D. Strongand D. Brown.New York:New York University Press. Smith, R. H. 1973 An EarlyRoman Sarcophagusof Palestine and Its School. Palestine ExplorationQuarterly 71-82. (January-June):

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Announcement

ASOR is pleased to announce the establishment of a new academic consortium for scholarly publication. JSOTPress of Sheffield, England,Almond Press of Sheffield, England,and Eisenbrauns of Winona Lake, Indiana, will join the American Schools of Oriental Research in publishing works on biblical studies and ancient Near Easternhistory and archaeology.North American distribution will be handled by: Eisenbrauns P.O.Box 275 Winona Lake, IN 46590. European distribution will be handled by: JSOTPress Department of Biblical Studies University of Sheffield cWA Sheffield S10 2TN England.

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BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

BA

PORTRAIT

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Scholar and Gentleman: Montgomery A

James

Alan

by Cyrus H. Gordon havehadthe privilegeof knowingonlya few

real scholars. The real gentlemen I have met are even fewer. My reveredteacher, James Montgomery, heads my brief list of scholarsand-gentlemen. Montgomery was born on June 13, 1866, in Philadelphia of distinguished lineage on both sides. He hailed from a tradition of clergymen and scholars. Silk purses are not made from sows' ears. It takes generations to breed a James Montgomery. Like a true aristocrat, he was devoid of snobbishness. He used to remark, '"Peoplewho boast of their genealogy are saying they are worse than their ancestors. This is what we mean by degeneracy.It's with potatoes, not people, that the best part is under ground." I first met Dr. Montgomery when I was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania in 1924. He was tall and gaunt, very thin, and amazingly energetic. It was hard for athletic youngsters to keep up with him in walking. He never owned an automobile, and got most of his exercise by walking fast to and from his trains at the Thirtieth

Street Station (now the main Amtrak station in Philadelphia). His disciples used to call him "the energetic skeleton" He bore a remarkableresemblance to the mummy of Ramses II, and Montgomery looked every bit as regal as the great pharaoh in his glory. Montgomery had three sons, whom he loved dearly. Two of them were married. But none of them produced children: a source of chagrin to Dr. and Mrs. Montgomery,who were very conscious of family continuity. Since the Montgomery boys no longer lived at home, I became a sort of surrogate son in their home during school vacations. The Montgomerys were dedicated Episcopalians.In their ambiance I quickly acquired a taste for the conservative and dignified liturgy of their church, as against the more modernized services, prayer books, and Bible translations. This was not surprising in light of my own traditional Sephardicupbringing in the old American Congregation of Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia. While their house guest, I often saw my hosts in informal situations. One morning Professor

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Montgomery happened to be walking from a dressing room to his bedroom on the second floor. His socks were held up by old-fashioned garters.He was wearing a jacket, well-laundered shirt, hard collar, and necktie. But his trousers were not yet on. Of such scenes are Charlie Chaplin or Marx Brothersfarces made. But even thus incompletely clad, Montgomery looked kingly. "Kleidermachen Leute"may be true of commoners but not of nobles such as he. Montgomery ate and drank moderately,but true to the lifestyle of Anglicanism, he enjoyed alcoholic drinks several times daily. In 1946, when I took my bride, Joan,to meet the Montgomerys on a cold winter day, Mrs. Montgomery asked Joan (who had a sweet tooth) if she'd like "oneor two" with her cup of hot tea. Joan,unused to Episcopalian society, innocently said "Two,please;"whereupon Mrs. Montgomery quickly produced from alongside her chair a bottle of rum and shot two generous slugs into the teacup. More than once, Dr. Montgomery remarkedto me, "Mydear boy, water is a most tiresome beverage." Their Germantown home was spacious, comfortable, and graced with a well-cultivated flower garden.They were not wealthy and his professorial income was small. But help was available and inexpensive, and they lived a genteel but unpretentious life. Nowadays, scholars (like everyone else) tend to be mobile. But James Montgomery was born in Philadelphia and died in Philadelphia. He went to college in his hometown, and as long as he lived he was a loyal alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, class of 1887. Only a few blocks (or "squares"as Philadelphians say) away he was graduatedas an Episcopalian clergyman in 1890 from the Philadelphia Divinity School, where the office of the American Schools of Oriental Research is now located. While Montgomery always considered himself an Episcopalian priest, his inner self requiredthat he dedicate his life professionally to research,

why he did not want his sons to go into scholarship as a career).In those days, scholars couldn't fly around in planes lecturing all over the map for fees. Instead they stayed at home, studying, writing, and teaching, without the temptations of a later generation. Nor had the age of grantsmanship dawned to distract scholars from their metier, by obliging them to write up time-consuming proposals for laying their clutches on taxpayers'money. Montgomery spent his summers at home on his research and preparinghis courses for the coming academic year. He taught Hebrew,Aramaic dialects, Arabic, and Ethiopic as well as occasional lecture courses on history, religion, and institutions. He also made time to take on additional duties such as editing the Journal of Biblical Literature (1909-10 to 1913-14) and the Journalof the American Oriental Society (1916-21 and 1924). Montgomery was thorough and not inclined to rush into print. His first book The Samaritans: The Earliest Jewish Sect (1907) still retains its value. In 1913 he published his Aramaic Incantation Texts from Nippur; this book remains the standardwork on a subject which still continues to generate an endless stream of books and articles after seventy years. Montgomery never continued to work on a topic on which he had written a book. Accordingly,he never taught me the bowl texts. Instead he inspired me to be his successor on Aramaic incantations by taking me exactly once to the University of Pennsylvania Museum, introducing me to the director, and arrangingfor me to copy and study the bowls and fragments he had not included in his book. It was in 1927 that his exemplary commentary on the book of Daniel appearedin the International Critical Commentary series. I asked him to offer a course on Daniel. He replied, "Mydear boy, I have spent so much time on Daniel that I cannot bear the thought of ever looking at it again." Montgomery was active in a number of learned societies and academic institutions. None meant more to him than the American Schools of

teaching, and productive scholarship. In those days, Germany was still the one outstanding center of biblical and Semitic learning. A traveling fellowship to Germany in 1890-92 enabled him to study for two years at the universities of Greifswald and Berlin. Montgomery worked hard as instructor and eventually professor of Hebrew at the Philadelphia Divinity School from 1899 to 1935, and at the University of Pennsylvania from 1909 to 1938. He really had to work at both jobs simultaneously in order to survive (and it is readily understandable

Oriental Research. In the fateful year of 1914-15, Montgomery went with his wife and three young sons to serve as director of the ASOR in Jerusalem. Palestine was then part of the Ottoman Empire. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 made his situation hazardous but not less interesting. In those days, professors did not fly repeatedly to Europe or the Near East on grants or sabbaticals. Lucky was the scholar who boarded a trans-Atlantic liner to spend a year abroad with his family on the one grand tour of his life. And Montgomery had an eventful one.

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BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

Montgomery was proud of his Scottish extraction but, like a true Caledonian, tempered his pride with a sense of humor. Addressing a Jewish group, his introductory anecdote was "Once there was a Scot and a Jew who bet a dollar on who could stay under water the longest. Both drowned." As a Hebraist, he had a cordial interest in Judaism and especially in Jewish scholarship. Speaking before a Jewish audience, he remarked, 'The trouble with Jewish scholars is that they do not know Latin and Greek, while the trouble with Christian scholars is that they don't know anything."Like most witticisms this one is to be taken cum grano salis. I must say that Montgomery had an exaggeratedestimate of Jews as Judaic scholars. I had to work hard ploughing through the rabbinic material for my thesis: much harderthan Montgomery realized. I did not know as much rabbinics as Montgomery imagined. Yet I did not want to disillusion him in a fantasy that I wished were true. So I burned midnight oil in order to live up to his flattering illusion. It did me a lot of good and

among ancient historians, EduardMeyer still remains among modem historians. Into old age, Montgomery worked on pioneer subjects. He spent much time on the South Arabic inscriptions. Late in life, he got into the new field of Ugaritic and made valuable contributions to it. Though not a modern linguist, he persuadedme to study linguistic science, Sanskrit, and Persian with Indo-Europeanists. His advice to me as a buddingscholar was so good that I wish I had followed it more often. "Write useful books that help your colleagues in their work."When I wrote my Ugaritic GrammarI was fulfilling his admonition. Other kinds of scholarship may be importantbut they do not usually bring us the same kind of unmingled satisfaction. Montgomery was always respectful of womanhood. He told me brains more often than not reach men through their mothers. But his generation was not attuned to intellectual women. When coeds began to appearin our university library,he would go downstairs wistfully to an area where he could smoke a cigarette, and say, "Soonwe shall have no place left except the men's room."He could not understandhow his colleague, the ReverendProfessor George A. Barton, could have supervised the doctoral dissertation of a Bryn Mawr lady on so immoral a topic as nude Astarte figurines. There were no women in our Bible seminars. But the presence of ladies is not necessary for a gentleman like Montgomery to observe the laws of propriety and decorum. In studying Ezekiel, we reached the unpleasant verse 23:20. Montgomery paused and winced from embarrassmentbefore saying to the men in the class, "Ido not like to think or speak of such matters, but we do have to interpret the text." Mrs. Montgomery was an adoring wife but not an intellectual, and Montgomery did not discuss his scholarly interests with her. And yet he could not live without her. When she died, he was a lost soul and soon followed her to the grave.Moreovera broken leg had aggravatedhis plight. Among his few consolations was his commentary on Kings for

brought me no harm. Like Jerome, Montgomery was a Latinus, Graecus, et Hebraeus. He tacitly assumed that this combination was necessary before any student could meaningfully embark on advanced biblical studies. Arabic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, etc. were all necessary after one had learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. I never studied history with him, but he expected his students to read voluminously in the German historians. I shall prize as long as I live Montgomery's personal copy of Eduard Meyer's Geschichte des Altertums. What Herodotus is

the International Critical Commentary series. His disciple Henry S. Gehman had polished Montgomery's typescript and would see another great commentary of the master through press. It appeared posthumously in 1951, but Montgomery had the comfort and satisfaction of knowing it would see the light of day. James A. Montgomery died in his Germantown home on February 6, 1949. His were the crowns of Torah, of the priesthood, and, most precious of all, of the fair name of scholar and gentleman.

He was president of the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalemand Baghdadfrom 1921 to 1933-34. It was during that time that I took all my degrees with Montgomery at the University of Pennsylvania and taught Hebrew and Assyrian in his department during 1930-31. In the latter year, Montgomery offered me a fellowship in the BaghdadSchool, which I accepted. It kept me in the Near East from June 1931 to the late spring of 1935, to help excavate and to serve as epigrapher on the BaghdadSchool expeditions at Tell Billa and Tepe Gawra (plus an interlude with Woolley at Ur) during the winters, and on the Jerusalem School expeditions at Beth-Zurand Tell Beit Mirsim in Palestine with Albright during the summers. Montgomery was ahead of his time in fosterbetween Christian and Jewish scholrelations ing ars. He had me write my doctoral thesis on Rabbinic Exegesis in the Vulgate of Proverbs,because of the fruitful tutelage that Saint Jeromeobtained from the Palestinian rabbis of around A.D.400.

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Book The Other Gospels:Non-CanonicalGospel Texts, edited by Ron Cameron. 192 pp. Philadelphia: Westminster,1982; $11.95 (Paper). Cameron'santhology of early Christianwritings that "preservesayings of Jesusand stories about him"(p. 15) intends to providethe student of the Jesustraditions with an inexpensive English translationof noncanonical gospel literaturerelevantto the study of Christian origins.It succeeds in admirablefashion! Cameron'spersonal (andno doubt professional)frustration at the generalinaccessibility of these materials (p. 11)has long been sharedby students and teachers alike. The excellent selection of early Christian writings, from among the ratherrich corpus of noncanonicalliterature,presents the literarycontext in which the canonical gospels themselves developed. It includes sixteen early Christiantexts, among them the recently discoveredCoptic Gospel of Thomas and the Secret Gospel of Mark,as well as significant gospel texts that have been known for a generationor more, such as PapyrusEgerton2. The volume will, no doubt, become a standardtext for all classes that focus attention on Christian origins. The anthology is prefacedby an all-too-brief forewordby Helmut Koester,Cameron'smentor and a long-time advocateof legitimizing the so-called gospel literatureas valuable (andsome"apocryphal" times independent)sources for studying the earliest stages of the Jesustraditions.Cameron'sown introduction to the volume discusses briefly the problems of dating such traditionsand the gospel genre.The introductionsto each individualtext clarify such critical issues as the relationshipbetween the title and the document itself, the extant manuscripttradition, sources, literaryforms, date and place of composition, the influence and significance of the document, and more. One does not scan these introductions quickly. Everysentence is tightly packed with essential information. Cameronarrangesthe sequence of his selections on the basis of how he understandsthe gospel literature to have developed:from earliest text to latest; from single sayings and sayings collections based on oral tradition independent of the canonical gospels to narrative texts based on the canonical gospels. With one possible exception (The Acts of Pilate, second to third centuries A.D.),Cameron dates all the texts within the first and second centuries AD. Some

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Reviews will no doubt challenge his early dates (forexample, middle of the first century A.D.for the Gospel of Thomas), but all will agree with the wisdom of his selections. The Apocryphon of James, a text from the Nag Hammadi library and the subject of Cameron's Harvarddissertation under Koester,is the only text newly translated for the volume. For the rest, Cameron has simply reprinted,with slight changes "for consistency and clarity"(p. 12), the standardEnglish translations. Cameron'stranslation of the Apocryphon of James reflects in part A revised Coptic transcription and is sufficiently different from the Claremont translation (JamesM. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Libraryin English [New York:Harperand Row, 1977], pp. 29-36) to rewardthe readerwho compares the translations. The annotated bibliographyis concerned primarily with textual matters. In future editions (and there will be subsequent editions!) Cameron will hopefully expand the bibliographyto include some of the more significant secondary literature. Every serious student of Jesus of Nazareth will want to read these once popular, then suppressed, and for-too-long-nowneglected and inaccessible early Christian writings-now available at much less than the cost of an evening's entertainment! Merely the possibility that they provide the reader an access to the Jesus tradition independent of the canonical gospels makes the volume well worth the price! Charles W. Hedrick Southwest Missouri State University Introduction to the Critical Study of the ITextof the Hebrew Bible, by J. Weingreen.103 pp. Oxford: Clarendon/Oxford University Press, 1982; $7.95. I approachedthis book with very high expectations, for everything seemed just right: an author, with years of classroom teaching, particularly well known for other introductory textbooks; a topic long in need of a competent and clear introductory text; a length (just over 100 pages) ideal for classroom adoption, especially if published in paperback form; and a publisher, Clarendon/Oxford University Press, no strangerto scholarly work on the Hebrew Bible. It is then with a double, if not

quadruple,sense of disappointment that I must report that this volume, while it does have merit, does not live up to these high initial expectations. This work's primary failures revolve around its inadequacies as an introduction (a genre into which, paradoxically,Weingreenfeels this book fits admirably).For example, Weingreen spends considerable time discussing, in an interesting though not critical way, rabbinic antecedents of modem textual work. Almost all of this material, which in my opinion is not directly relevant to the topic at hand, should have been omitted. As partial defense for his inclusion of such material, Weingreen points to conservative students who will be relieved to learn that modern textual critics are following in the footsteps of Talmudic rabbis. I am unacquainted with that sort of conservative student. Even before this rabbinic material is formally discussed there are more than ten pages of introduction-to the book as a whole and to textual criticism. Most of this, I feel, will be lost on beginning students, who need to be exposed to specific examples, and not generalities, as quickly as possible. When specific examples do appear,what students find is by and large simply a recitation of results already achieved by text critics. There is little if any effort made to encourage students themselves to participate actively in the process of "doing"text criticism. This is a serious pedagogical deficiency that could easily have been avoided by exercises carefully constructed to prompt students to devise solutions of their own before being presented with the findings of others. Especially in an introductory work one needs to select "problem"passages and present solutions with the utmost care and clarity. Weingreen,unfortunately, does not always follow his own caveats on the need to follow a sober approachto these matters. It does not, for example, seem helpful to conjecture a possible reference to possible battle habits of that elusive group, the Habiru, to explain the text at 1 Samuel 17:8. Corruptions and their

Weingreenwrites is, at least to this American, ponderous. This book also fails as an introduction through its complete lack of plates or charts. One or two plates from the Isaiah Scroll of Qumran, so frequently mentioned, would have been extremely helpful in showing the realities of scribal activity, and we also miss a script chart of the ancient Hebrew alphabet so often referredto. A very stingy bibliographydeprives students of needed information on sources for further study; by contrast, the indices are satisfyingly full. There is something throughout that suggests haste in the preparationof this volume. Forexample, discussions following lists often disregard the order of those lists or redefine their terms. Other irritations include a Hebrew phrase that awkwardly spills over from one page to the next (pp. 52 and 53), handwritten archaic letters instead of the printed Hebrew script (p. 45), a footnote (one of the few) preceding the page where it belongs (p. 70), and so on. Although I conclude that Weingreen'svolume does not function well as an introduction, I do feel that it will be very helpful to certain readers.It is the sort of work from which an advanced student or mature scholar can draw many examples in discussing the phenomena of textual variation. It also is the sort of work that commentators or exegetes may well consult in the process of their deliberations. Unfortunately, for its stated aim, this is not the sort of work I would place before a student who is in the initial stages of text critical study of the Hebrew Bible.

solutions in the book of Joshua, which is the biblical material I know best, are presented too dogmatically: the Masoretic text at 1:15, for example, may contain an explanatory gloss, but other explanations, not mentioned by Weingreen, are also possible; it is not "obvious" that the second reference to "the waters of the Jordan .. at 4:7 is a dit'." tography; the Masoretic text of 6:18 is not "unintelligible" as it stands, nor does the Septuagint of this passage necessarily point to a variant reading. Examples of this sort, from outside of Joshua, could be multiplied. In addition, the style in which

In 1964 a book appearedin print that, in this reviewer's opinion, did more to increase our understanding of the geographicalscope of classical studies than any volume that had appearedto that date. The author of this important synthesis of Greek and indigenous archaeological material from the Iberian Peninsula to Persia, and from the northern coast of the Black Sea to the Nile Valley, was John Boardman;its title was The Greeks Overseas. With the appearanceof this single volume, the student of Greek civilization was provided with a convenient introduction, and cogent

LeonardGreenspoon Clemson University The Greeks Overseas:Their Early Colonies and Trade, by John Boardman. 288 pp. London and New York:Thames and Hudson, 1980; $12.95.

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research tool, with which to place the "Greekexperience"in the international setting so vividly described by Herodotus and other ancient writers. And classical scholars haven'tbeen the only beneficiaries of this valuable work, for archaeologists concerned with the local cultures of each of the areas presented by Boardmanhave gained significantly from his lucid presentation of the evidence for the degree of interaction between the Greeks and their neighbors. Now 1980 has seen the appearanceof a third edition of Boardman'sclassic, a version which in all respects goes far beyond the intermediate revision of 1973. In this latest volume the original format has been retained, with individual chapters dealing with specific, geographical subdivisions of the world in which the ancient Greeks moved. What has changed, however, is the depth of coverage in the individual areas. In addition, footnotes supplying references for specific points or themes have replaced the short bibliographical lists that concluded the chapters of the earlier editions. Furthermore, the illustrations have been increased to a number almost twice that of the first edition. The quality of these illustrations has also been greatly improved, with more legible maps in a largerformat and the substitution of photographs (some published here for the first time) for the earlier line drawings and sketches. It is this clearly written, well-footnoted text combined with a plethora of illustrations in a "white space"format that makes the latest edition of The Greeks Overseas a delight to handle. As this reviewer writes, with the three editions before him, he feels a tinge of nostalgia for the smaller format of 1964 by which he was so greatly stimulated when he was a student. He can also, however, feel a great deal of pleasure with Boardman'slatest edition, for with this work the author has placed in the hands of a new generation of students an updated, affordable introduction to the role played by the Greeks in the world that both confronted and invited them. Albert Leonard, Jr. University of Missouri BOOK PUBLISHERS

Pleasesendall reviewcopiesto: Dr.PeterB. Machinist Departmentof OrientalStudies The Universityof Arizona Tucson,Arizona85721

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Books

Received

Per Beskow, Strange Tales About Jesus. A Survey of Unfamiliar Gospels. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983, viii + 135 pp. $6.95 (Paper). Raymond E. Brown and John P. Meier, Antioch and Rome. New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity. New York/Ramsey:Paulist Press, 1983, xii + 242 pp. $4.95 (Paper). J. M. Cook, The Persian Empire. New York: Schocken Books, 1983, xiii + 275 pp. + 43 pls. $30.00 (Cloth). Peter C. Craigie, Ugarit and the Old Testament. Grand Rapids:William B. EerdmansPublishing Co., 1983, vii + 110 pp. $5.95 (Paper). Leon Epsztein, La justice sociale dans le ProcheOrient ancien et le peuple de la Bible. Series: Etudes annexes de la Bible de J6rusalem.Paris: Les 6ditions du Cerf, 1983, 273 pp. 69.50 FF (Paper). Brian M. Fagan,editor, Prehistoric Times. Series: Readings from Scientific American. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Co., 1983, 8 + 262 pp. $12.95 (Paper),$24.95 (Cloth). Michael Grant, From Alexander to Cleopatra. The Hellenistic World.New York:Charles Scribner'sSons, 1982, xv + 319 pp. + 16 pls. $19.95 (Cloth). Moshe Greenberg,Ezekiel, 1-20. Series: Anchor Bible 22. Garden City: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1983, xv + 388 pp. $16.00 (Cloth). Michael Patrick O'Connor and David Noel Freedman, editors, The Bible and Its Traditions. Special Issue of Michigan Quarterly Review, vol. 22/no. 3, Summer, 1983, 29 + 355 pp. $8.00 (Paper). John Van Seters, In Search of History. Historiographyin the Ancient Worldand the Origins of Biblical History. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983, xiii + 399 pp. $30.00 (Cloth). EphraimStern, Material Culture of the Land of the Bible in the Persian Period 538-332 B.C. Warminster, England: Aris & Phillips/Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 1982, xix + 287 pp. No price. Augustine Stock, O.S.B., Call to Discipleship: A Literary Study of Mark's Gospel. Series: Good News Studies 1. Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier, Inc., 1982, 208 pp. $7.95 (Paper). John Walton, Jonah. Series: Bible Study Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1982, 82 pp. $3.95 (Paper).

THIRTEEN

FIblSTRIPS including

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biblical

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This filmstrippresentsextensivelydocumentedevidencefor perhapsthe most extraordinaryclaim concerning + + + on the +

the Shroud of Turin: that coins of Pontius Pilate covered the two eyes closed in death, and that the coins + right and left eyes can be identified to authenticate, date, and locate the origin of the Shroud. 100 Frames. + $30.00 + + 30 Minute cassette description. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Informational Packet:"THEDATINGOFTHESHROUDOFTURINFROMCOINSOFPONTIUS PILATE" Second (updated) edition: Offers written and photographic data to substantiate imprints from Pilate coins on right and left eyes. 14,000-word Monograph by Francis L. Filas, S.J., Professor of Theology at Loyola University of Chicago. Includes confirmatory findings of Dr. Alan Whanger of Duke University, finding 147 congruences between Shroud imprints and Pilate coins by means of polarizing filters and overlays. Numismatic sketches, 2 slides, 1 color print. $6.50

#163. THE SHROUD OF TURIN: IS THIS THE PHOTOGRAPHOF JESUS CHRIST?

84 frames, 38-minute cassette explanation in this updated edition of the burial cloth in Turin, Italy, traditionally held to be that of Jesus Christ. Summarizes evidence currently unchanged from scientific and historical data through $25.00 1978, concluding to 3-D crucified human body from Palestine.

#173. THE 1978 EXPOSITIONOF THE SHROUD OF TURIN: A DOCUMENTARY

113 frames, 30-minute cassette explanation. Includes priceless historical scenes of Shroud in natural faint shades; pollen off Shroud; list of scientific experiments; computer reconstruction. Some photos already collectors' items. Adds new data to #163. $25.00

#176. THE EBLATABLETS:THEIR RELEVANCETO THE BIBLE.

This extremely valuable filmstrip is divided into two parts: the facts of Ebla that no one can deny; and the presentation of the argument for the influence of Ebla in understanding ideas of the Hebrew (Old) and Greek (New) Testament. $35.00 Photography: Aldo Durazzi. Consultant: Mitchell Dahood, S. J. 100 Frames. 30-Minute cassette description.

#160. JERUSALEM,66 A.D.

105 frames, 42-minute cassette explanation, of Holyland Hotel Model in Jerusalem on scale of 1/50 of life size; reconstruction of ancient Jerusalem in 66 A.D. $22.00

#164. THE DESERTSOF BIBLICALISRAELTODAY 135 frames, 31-minute cassette explanation, of Sinai, Negev, and Judean deserts, including Qumran, Jericho, $22.00 Murabba'at,Masada, Herodion.

#165. BIBLICALLOCATIONSIN JERUSALEMTODAY 133 frames, 38-minute cassette explanation, 24 orientation maps and floor plans; at least 40 locations as seen from walk on Jerusalem walls, nearby Bethlehem, and westbound through Jerusalem from Mount Olivet. $22.00

#167. BIBLICALLOCATIONSIN GALILEETODAY 133 frames, 31-minute cassette explanation, of Hazor, Megiddo, Nazareth, Capernaum, Tabor, Naim, sources of Jordan River, and around Lake of Galilee. $22.00

#169. THE SEACOASTOF THE BIBLETODAY 135 frames, 30-minute cassette explanation of Yafo (biblical Joppa), Askelon, Gaza, Caesarea-on-the-sea, Carmel $22.00 Caves, Mount Carmel Range, Haifa Bay, Acre, Achziv.

# 170. LITERARYFORMS:A KEY TO UNDERSTANDTHE BIBLE

92 frames, 20-minute cassette explanation, using 25 sprightly cartoons, 42 biblical locales. Distinguishes what the biblical passagemeans rather than what its words literally say. Contemporary examples and selected passages. $22.00

#172. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS 116 frames, 25-minute cassette explanation, as an audio-visual "recap" of the New Testament Resurrection narratives, with their logic and their modern milieu: Jerusalem, Emmaus, Lake of Galilee, Mt. Olivet. $22.00

#174. WHERE JESUS LIVED - AS IT LOOKS TODAY Children's filmstrip (5th grade & under). 70 frames, 15-minute cassette explanation; Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, in a pattern following life of Christ. $20.00

#175. PLACES PAUL VISITED AS THEY LOOK TODAY Pictorially follows life of Paul from Tarsus to Rome, in modern setting. Striking aerial and ground photography by Raymond V. Schoder, S. J. 27-minute cassette explanation. 106 frames. $25.00 All cassettes for these filmstrips have automatic/manual signals to advance strip. Printed keys for each frame. Musical interludes. Except as noted, production, narration and photography by Francis L. Filas, S.J.

DISTRIBUTED BY: Cogan Productions, A Division of ACTA Foundation, Suite A, 11134 Youngtown Avenue, Youngtown, Arizona, 85363. If ordering for institution, please give name of person ordering. If individual, please give credit reference. (No delivery charges if payment with order. U.S.A. ONLY.)

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

165

For

the

Serious Student...

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT AND CRITICISM byCarlE.Armerding

An introduction to the methods, tools, and uses of Old Testamentcriticism in which Armerdingapplies a synthesis of approaches -the traditionaland the critical-to four majorbranchesof criticism:literary,form, structural,and textual. Paper, $6.95

EERD.M CARMEN CHRISTI: Philippians

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Worship by Ralph P. Martin This study survevsand evaluatesrecent views on the Christ hymn in Philippians2 and sheds light on the development of early Christolopg. Paper, $7.95

PROPHECY AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY

THE AUTHORITATIVE WORD: Essays on the Nature of Scripture

by David E. Aune The firstcomprehensive treatmentin English of a significantareaof New Testament study--the place of prophecy in the New Testamentperiod. Cloth, $24.95

Edited by Donald K. McKim An outstanding list of well-known and respectedscholarscontribute to this excellent introduction to currentknowledge and discussions about the natureof Scripture and its authority. Paper, S0o.95

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STUDIES IN A CHRISTIAN WORLD VIEW SeriesEditor,CarlF. H. Henry

WHO DO PEOPLE SAY I AM? The Interpretation of Jesus in the

CHURCH byHarry R. Boer The author sets forth issues involved in a discussion of the doctrine of reprobation and summarizesthe controversyover this doctrine between himself and the Christian Reformed Church. Paper, $4.95

Writtenby highly qualifiedevangelical scholars,this new series, sponsored by The Institute for Advanced ChristianStudies, is dedicated to providing Christianperspectives on the world of learning.The following two volumes are available:

New Testament Gospels by Marvin W. Meyer Combining historicalanalysiswith commitment to the biblicaltext, Mever introduces the historicalJesusand the interpretationof Him in the Gospels. Paper,S5.95

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LOGIC AND THE NATURE OF GOD by Stephen Davis and philosophical in its Both Both theological theological approach, this book discussesthe attributes of God from a Christianperspective.Cloth, S9.95

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i AND 2 THESSALONIANS (New Century Bible Commentary) byl. Howard Marshall The latest addition to the popular NCBC series, a commentary based on the Revised StandardVersion that is balancedand up-todate in terms of both its scholarshipand its reflectionof the contemporaryrelevance of the biblicaltext. Paper,$6.95 GOD AS THE MYSTERY OF THE WORLD: On the Foundation of the Theology of the Crucified One in the Dispute Between Theism and Atheism by EberhardJzingel A brilliantand highly original work by a

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WORLD VIEW byArthurF.Holmes In this introductoryvolume, Holmes analvzes the natureof world views, secularand Christian,and tracesthe overallcontours of a distinctly Christianview. Paper,$8.95 CHRISTIANITY

exercise philosophy of religion, this second volume in this series is concerned with theism in general and Christianityin particular.Paper,$10.95

by Lewis B. Smedes A probing study of what Paul means when he speaksof our being in Christ and Christ being in us. Paper,$4.95

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by GeorgeA. F. Knight The author here provides a positive statement in the face of today's world about the essential relationshipbeteen Christianity and the world's religions. Paper,$4.95 BIBLICAL INSPIRATION byI. Howard Marshall Answering difficultquestions about biblical inspiration, infallibility,and the value of biblicalcriticism, this study is helpful to all who are puzzled and confused by current discussions of biblicalinspirationand authority. Paper, $4.95

respected German theologian which inter-

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UNION WITH CHRIST: A Biblical View of the New Life in Jesus Christ

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY byKeithE. Yandell An in the

by Richard H. Smith Concise, up-to-date, and inexpensive, this lexicon contains virtuallyall the entries needed to readthe classical usual Sahidic Hammadi literatureas well well as as the the Nag Nag Hamadi text. literatureas text. Pricessubjectto change For more information on these and other recent Eerdmanstitles, write for a copx of our latest textbook catalog. Examination copies of most publicationsare available to qualifiedprofessors.

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Bas-reliefDecoration of •T/he

decorative friezeof a sarcophagus foundin a tombat

Jebel Mukabbir,a hill near Jerusalem,was laid out without the use of any arithmetic measurements. The sarcophagus,which dates to the late first or early second century, is shown here in a photographtaken in 1967 by the author in the courtyardof the JordanArchaeological Museum in Amman. It is 2.02 meters long. When laying out the bas-relief decoration of this sarcophagus,the craftsman first decided how high and wide he wanted the frieze to be and where he wanted to position it on the receptacle. Once he incised the guide lines for the top edge and one end of the panel, he used a large compass to mark off the bottom edge and the other end, so as to establish the full rectangle. Next, using his compass he found the vertical midpoint of the panel and incised a light horizontal line from one end to the other. Because he wanted all four bordersof equal width, he laid out the width with his compass, then incised the inner line of the borderon the frieze. Next, starting at one end of the panel, he delineated a triglyph of such proportionas tradition or his personal preferencedictated;beside this he incised a circle, the circumference of which touched not only the third member of the triglyph but also the top and bottom borderof the frieze. He followed with an adjoining triglyph, a circle, and then another triglyph. He then moved to the other end of the panel and laid out the same alternation of triglyphs and circles from opposite directions. Left with a wide central panel that suggested a Roman tabula ansata, which was unsuitable for a circular design, he used his straightedgeto execute an asymmetrical meander,the proportionsof which he adjustedto the space available.The artisan then filled the four paterae, or circular areas in the metopes, with geometric patterns. Each pattern was executed with the same two simple pieces of equipment. The stages in the geometric construction of the four circular panels are shown below. The craftsman laid out the rosette at the extreme left of the frieze by first setting his compass to the same span as that used in drawingthe circles. Placing one point of the compass at the spot where the circumference of the patera intersected the horizontal bisecting line of the panel, he incised a circle, or at least that part which fell within the patera. Shifting the point to that place on the circumferencewhere the arc intersected it, he repeated the process (1A).Continuing around the circumference in this manner, he returned to his starting point, having inscribed a simple six-petal rosette. To enrich the design he reduced the span of the compass so that it inscribed an arc within each of the areas containing petals (1B).He repeatedthis process until all of the petals were so embellished. Most of these incised guide lines disappearedwhen the relief was cut. The twelve-vanewhorl on the extreme right side of the frieze first requiredthe marking off of six equal arcs on the circumferenceby the previously described method. Then each of the arcs was bisected with the compass to form twelve equal arcs on the circumference (4A). After reducing the span of the compass by half, the craftsman marked a concentric circle intersecting the twelve equidistant radii. At these intersections he placed the point of the compass without changing the span, and drew a series of arcs to form one side of each vane. He then

178

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Roman Sarcophagus enlarged the span of the compass slightly and, using the same intersections, drew the other side of each vane (4B). The sixteen-petal compound rosette next to the extreme right required the bisection of the circle into two, four, eight, and finally sixteen equal arcs (3A). Enlargingthe span of the compass until their radius was equal to a chord between any three of the sixteen arcs, the artisan incised short arcs to form the tips of the petals (3B).Where these arcs touched, he incised partial radii on the patera to form the lower portions of the petals. The remaining circle (second from the left), which consists of a wreath, was likewise based on sixteen equal arcs. In addition to this division of the circumference, the craftsman also incised two smaller concentric circles at intervals of approximatelyone-third the radius of the circle; these spans were determined by trial and errorwith the compass. He also incised straight lines and arcs as guides for the leaves (2A). He needed only to add a few connecting lines by visual estimation in order to derive the desired leaf shapes. The result (2B)was somewhat stiff, although the shapes were further softened during the incising of the design.

A

A

A

B

B

B

2 (second from left)

4

3 (second from right)

(extremeright)

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

179

A

of the Reconstruction for Technique

andcomPellamosaicwaslaidoutwitha straightedge

The

pass. It is shown here in a photographby Douglas Kuylenstiema after it was consolidated and restoredin 1980 (its length is 128 centimeters). The design is executed chiefly in red (stippledareas),black, and white limestone cubes (tesserae),each measuring about 1 centimeter wide. The mosaicist's first step was to lay out and execute the border, which in this instance was to be a four-strandbraid in three colors. The master craftsman relied on his own sense of proportion in determining the approximatewidth of the border.He then laid out a line parallel to one wall of the chamber.This scratch would serve as a center line for the border.The borderpattern requireda number of stages, each involving geometric markings and occasional installation of registrationtesserae. Holding four tesserae together so as to form a square,the artisan placed the group diagonally on the center line as an "eye,"around which the rest of the pattern would be constructed (A). He then decided that each braid would be five tesserae wide, and laid appropriate tesserae on either side of the central square, so as to establish the width of the two braids (B).Next, two more squares of four tesserae each were introduced (C). Using the centers of the three squares,he determined with the aid of geometry the locations to be occupied by subsequent squares (indicated in C by x's at the appropriatecompass points). Having established these points of reference,the craftsman could continue to develop the central segment of the design (D). To form the outer strands of the braid, he added tesserae as shown in E. In forming the outer strands he was obliged to curve the line of tesserae, a task which he achieved by chipping some tesserae into triangularand trapezoidal shapes. The placement of the fifth and final row of tesserae on the outer edges of the strands was delayed until the mosaicist had arrangeda row of tesserae as an edge line for the border.He allowed the

A

B

B: (

182

BIBLICALARCHAEOLOGIST/SUMMER1983

E

Laying

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Mosaic

fifth row of the outer strand to merge into the edge row (F).The pattern was now complete, and the craftsman had only to extend the design so far as necessary around the room (G). The bordersalong the adjoining two walls were constructed in the same fashion with some suitable adaptations (no longer extant in the mosaic under discussion). Once the borderwas completed, one dimension of the interior space was divided by a simple doubling process (one into two into four into eight, etc.) into a series of parallel lines that created two, four, eight, or more equal spaces. Geometric methods were then employed to establish another series of parallel lines at right angles to the first series and at the same intervals, which would form a grid of squares across the entire surface to be tessellated. Each of these squares would receive one unit of the chosen pattern. The squares thus had no fixed measurement. Their size was determined only by the dimensions of the room, the practical limitations imposed by the size of the tesserae, and the artisan'ssense of attractive proportions. In laying out the design of each unit of the central area of the mosaic, the craftsman initially established, through doubling, a grid of sixty-four squares inside the unit square.He demarcatedthe diagonals of the unit square and placed a single black registrationtessera at each point where the diagonals and the grid square intersected, as shown in H. Next he placed the compass point on each of the adjacentgrid intersections (indicatedby dots in H) and scribed arcs in orderto connect the tesserae. The craftsman then placed white tesserae in curved rows that followed the arcs. His next step was to lay a second row of white tesserae along the outer edge of the first row. Using the appropriategrid intersections, the artisan scribed the semicircles shown in H and placed tesserae in curved rows that followed the semicircles. White tesserae were used for the inner arcs and red for the ones on the outer edge. He also placed single white registrationtesserae at suitable grid intersections along the edges of the unit square.Those tesserae situated between unit squares were set diagonally and those next to the borderwere arrangedhorizontally. Subsequently he set in place the central tessera or "eye"of each dart, consisting of a gray stone that differed from all other tesserae in kind and color, and then constructed the remainderof each dart (I).He also completed the small geometric fillers on the perimeter of the unit squares;one stone in each filler had previously been put in place as a registration tessera. All that remained was to fill in the solid black lozenges of the diagonals and the white tesserae of the imbrication.

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