ESTELLE SHOHET BRETTMAN MEMORIAL LECTURE
Pavlos Geroulanos, former Minister of Culture and Tourism of Greece, on 
"The Benaki Museum and the Greek Narrative: The Role of Culture in Crisis" 
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Harry and Mildred Remis Auditorium (Auditorium 161)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Pavlos Geroulanos, former Minister of Culture and Tourism of Greece, discusses the role of culture in Greece’s economic crisis as presented at the Benaki Museum, the only museum in the world that covers Greek history and art from pre-historic times to today. As you walk its halls, you see invaluable artifacts covering nine millennia and experience how one period of Greek history links to another, how each period influenced and was influenced by cultures it came into contact with, and how this cultural continuum has contributed to the creation of the modern Greek state. This unique way of presenting the Greek narrative can play a significant role in facing and overcoming the economic crisis that still plagues the country.

To order tickets by phone, call 1-800-440-6975 ($6 processing fee applies); to order in person, visit any MFA ticket desk.
Additional information and directions to the museum at: www.mfa.org.

(Rome, March 20th, 2017).  The Trastevere neighborhood in Rome, the low-lying area on the Tiber River's right bank below the precipitous slopes of the Janiculum and Monteverde, has been associated with Jews since the time of the ancient Roman Republic.  The literary record is not extensive for Jews at the local level, but it is very old.  Likewise, material traces of Jews in this region are largely restricted to artifacts from burial grounds, with the exception of some objects and texts from the early Modern era that today are housed in collections like Rome's Jewish Museum.

This trend of recovering essential data about Rome's Jewish communities of two millennia and more from mortuary remains continues with the announcement by Italian archaeologists during a March 20th press conference at the National Museum of Rome at Palazzo Massimo of their discovery of thirty-eight tombs from a Jewish cemetery in Trastevere which dates to the Late Medieval and Early Modern eras (fourteenth through early seventeenth centuries). 

The excavations were carried out over a period of six years during the restoration of the Palazzo Leonori on the viale delle Mura Portuensi, the new administrative center of the Rome-based insurance agency, le Assicurazioni di Roma (AdiR).  Digging to a depth of eight meters below the modern ground level in some spots, both inside and outside of the present day, Fascist-era structure, the archaeologists reached the site of the Campus Judaeorum, the "Field (cemetery) of the Jews", and even some Roman-era industrial remains, identified as the "Coraria Septimiana", the workspace instituted by the emperor Septimius Severus around the turn of the third century for the tanners' guild (it is worth noting that Rome's topography was linked always to its sustainability: this area was, in fact, the "Bufalara", the loading dock for animals, especially cattle, over a thousand years later).

The photographs in the March 22, 2017 edition of the Italian daily, Il Messaggero, show these tombs as individual troughs arranged in rows, or up against older ruins (which remained visible in the cemetery); the skeletons, for the most part of adult males, seem well-preserved, but they stand alone: a good part of what could be taken away from the site, like the headstones, was removed at the time new defensive walls for the city were built over the site, and the bodies themselves originally seem to have been encased in wooden coffins that have since disintegrated into the soil.  Only one fragment of an epitaph in Hebrew emerged from the recent excavation, but others have come to light over the years, especially during the late nineteenth century, in a secondary use, as a 1625 edict of Pope Urban VIII not only forbade the erection of new tombstones, but also sanctioned the destruction of existing Jewish grave markers.  As fate would have it, not even a decade later, the first published notice of an ancient Jewish catacomb, or underground cemetery, occurred in a posthumous work of Antonio Bosio, the Roma Sotterranea (1632-34), documenting the existence of an even earlier burial grounds for Roman Jews on the southern slope of the Monteverde, a mile or so from the Palazzo Leonori site, which Bosio was able to enter and partially explore in 1602.  His account of the catacomb included, in fact, specific reference to the Trastevere cemetery, the Campo dei Giudei, that still retained its name and apparently - as we know now, thanks to the recent excavations - many of its graves.     

The present study of the graves below the Palazzo Leonori involved many different specialists, who have contributed an important chapter in the history of the daily conditions for Jews under Papal Rule in Rome.  This is the first time, in fact, that photographs and other documentation of the tombs have been made public, confirming that not all is lost of the hallowed grounds.  Part of the archaeological site will be visible below glass in a covered courtyard, and can be visited upon request.  Details are forthcoming from the Italian State Archaeological Offices (http://archeoroma.beniculturali.it/en). 

Sources: Laura Larcan, "Raffiora a Trastevere la necropoli degli Ebrei," in Il Messaggero, 22 marzo 2017, p. 55: http://www.ilmessaggero.it/roma/cronaca/trastevere_necropoli_ebrei-2332354.html; "Coraria Septimiana e Campus Iudeorum: Novita dai Recenti Scavi," International Catacomb Society, March 18th, 2017: https://www.catacombsociety.org/coraria-septimiana-e-campus-iudeorum-novita-dai-recenti-scavi-fuori-porta-portese/; Jessica Dello Russo, unpublished thesis.

"Novità dai recenti scavi fuori Porta Portese", Lunedì 20 marzo Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Sala Conferenze, I piano, ore 9.30.

Archaeologists working on behalf of the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma will share the results of recent excavations on the grounds of the Palazzo Leonori, the new seat of the insurance company AdiR, at Viale delle Mura Portuensi, 33, in Rome's 16th municipal district.  An extensive restoration of the early 20th century structure provided the opportunity to dig deeper not only into the building's history, but also into that of the surrounding area close to the Tiber docks in Trastevere, today outside the walls, but once a threshold to Rome from the ancient Porta Portuensis, the fifth-century CE city gate demolished and rebuilt in its present location as Porta Portese by 1644.

Before and after the rebuilding of the Trastevere defences, a crooked plot of land on the right side of the street, behind the churches of S. Francesco a Ripa and San Biagio, was known as the "Campus Judaeorum" (or Campo/Orto dei Giudei, etc.).  This "Field of the Jews" on the city's extremity was a Jewish cemetery, in use by the thirteenth century, and expropriated three centuries later in 1587 by Pope Urban VIII, not long after the institution of the Roman ghetto on the Tiber's left bank.  Headstones and other artifacts were uprooted during the completion of a new wall circuit in 1644, during the pontificate of Innocent X, which seem to have used commemorative stones from the graveyard in their construction, while collectors pocketed the smaller goods.  Like other burial grounds, the Trastevere site was within the city boundaries at the time it was in use, and owned and administered, at least in its final phase, by a Jewish charitable society, the Compagnia della carità e della morte Israelitica (Ghemiluth Chasadim).

The location of this Jewish cemetery is no mystery: it was behind the Church and Monastery of S. Francesco a Ripa, and reached the walls and gates of the ancient Porta Portese (roughly 500 meters beyond the actual gate, heading away from Rome's center: a good way to mark the site of the older gate today is to look across the river and see the walls on the left bank, going toward the Porta S. Paolo, which still follow the ancient circuit).  On historic maps, the site looks grassy and empty, but actually it was close to a commercial zone, the "Bufalara" or loading dock for cattle, and not far from the well-trafficked via Portuense.  Due to its proximity to the Tiber river, in fact, the area remained relatively uninhabited, well into the industrial age, for it was considered unhealthy to live so close to the fresh water marshes on such low and flood-prone grounds.

Even before the cemetery was dismantled in the late sixteenth century, and the Jews were obliged to move their burial activity to the slopes of the Aventine Hill overlooking the Circus Maximus, in an "Ortaccio degli Ebrei," that, in turn, fell out of use in the late nineteenth century, with subsequent oblivion by order of the Fascist regime in 1934, excavations at the Portuense gate by land owners and antiquarians brought up a number of inscribed marble capitals and sculpted fragments, as well as other types of Roman and Medieval era finds.  The ruins of the "Gardens of Caesar" "Gardens of Gallus", and "Naumachia of Augustus" were believed to lie nearby, as well as an intriguing cult shrine to Syrian gods.  Ancient building remains were especially visible in the early Modern period in the land cooperatively owned by Rome's Jews, but the uprooting of the Jewish cemetery itself might not have been all that systematic, as pieces of epitaphs in Hebrew (or reused grave markers in Greek and Latin, for Jewish burials during the Late Antique and Medieval periods) continued to turn up in subsequent building activity well into the 19th and early 20th centuries, though most of these inscribed rock tablets no longer seemed to be in situ to mark a grave.

In later years, an "Osteria degli Ebrei" existed in the vicinity, and a building marked by a Hebrew inscription escaped destruction on the vicolo delle Palme (today's vicolo dell'Atleta), in the heart of the Medieval "Contrada Synagoghe" or "Contrada Hebraeorum".  But the "Campus Judaeorum," along with surrounding vineyards, were built over in the last century as trains and other types of vehicular traffic criss-crossed the zone.

Today, there seems to be a lot of asphalt over the grounds, but the San Francesco complex, rebuilt and enlarged in the seventeenth century, might preserve some material traces of the neighboring Jewish cemetery.   It would be well worth hearing from the Italian authorities during a press conference at the National Roman Museum on March 20 what the next steps will be toward reclaiming more evidence of past Jewish populations in Rome, and how the on-going documentation of Jewish cemeteries relates to other urban developments over time.

(Author: Jessica Dello Russo)

International Catacomb Society directors and staff send warmest birthday wishes to Society advisor, Dr. John J. Herrmann, Jr, director emeritus of the Art of the Ancient World Collections at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  John has been a wonderful resource for the ICS for many years, and we hope for many years to come!  As successor at the MFA to longtime Classical Art curator Cornelius Clarkson Vermeule III, an ICS founding director, John has stayed connected to ICS in all phases of its growth, from 1980 to the present, and, in recent years, has only increased his commitment to furthering its academic goals and making it live up to its potential as an international collective (if anything, raising the bar to new heights with his own extensive travels and research on Greco-Roman antiquities).  We must work even harder to justify his faith in ICS's potential!

It is exciting also to share that John, together with his wife, ICS vice president Annewies van den Hoek, will be lecturing at the Shifting Frontiers in Late Antiquity Twelfth Biennial Conference: "The Fifth Century: Age of Transformation" at Yale Univeristy on Friday, March 24, 2017 on the topic "From Bowls to Lamps: Migration of motifs in African Red Slip ware" (click here for abstract).  Well worth attending!  Listening to John means you not only learn from one expert on Ancient material culture, but also receive what he learned from others, as part of an academic "family tree" that reaches back to Richard Krautheimer's generation, and beyond.  

Best birthday wishes, and heartfelt thanks to John and his family on this special day (March 16, 2017)!

Image - John (left) and ICS Advisor, Prof. Paolo Liverani (Università degli Studi di Firenze) in Rome in February of 2017.

College Art Association 2017 Conference Session: Ancient Sculpture in Context

Friday, February 17, 2017, 8:30AM–10:00AM, in the Beekman Parlor, 2d Floor, New York Hilton Midtown, New York City

Chairs: Anne Hrychuk Kontokosta, New York University; Peter De Staebler, Pratt Institute

Understanding the History of Greek Sculpture: What Neuroscience Can Add
John Onians, University of East Anglia

Portability, Versatility, and the Problem of Contextualization: In Search of Viewing Environments for the Small-Scale Divine Statuary of Roman Athens
Brian A. Martens, University of Oxford

Use or Reuse? Rethinking Mythological Sarcophagi in Catacomb Contexts
Sarah Madole, Borough of Manhattan Community College, The City University of New York

Eros and the Army (Constantinople and Context)
Benjamin Anderson, Cornell University

Link: http://conference.collegeart.org/programs/ancient-sculpture-in-context/

Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies Twelfth Colloquium Series
The Botany of Death in Ancient Rome, a lecture by John Bodel (Brown University)
Thursday, January 19, 2017 - 5:30pm to 7:00pm
Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Central European University
Gellner Room, Nador utca 9, Budapest, Hungary, 1051
https://cems.ceu.edu/events/2017-01-19/botany-death-ancient-rome

Human mortality in the ancient Mediterranean world was closely linked with the rhythms of nature. Homer’s famous simile of the “generation of leaves” likening the lot of men to that of the leaves of deciduous trees, which by their regular deaths renew the life of the tree itself, provides one well-known illustration of this association (Iliad 6.146-149).  This paper explores the ways that plants—trees and flowers, in particular—figured in ancient Roman funerary ritual. The use of various woods during different stages of the burial rite, the prominence of foliage during the transitional phases of the ceremony, the presence of vegetal offerings in some graves, and the devotion of specific annual holidays to floral commemoration of the dead at tomb sites point not only to a general conformity of Roman ritual to Mediterranean patterns of assimilating human and botanical mortality but also to a more precisely coded use of plants in funerary ritual that is distinctive of Roman culture. A general overview of the role of botanical life in Roman funerary ritual will precede a more focused discussion of the specific uses of cypress, olive, and laurel in the burial rite, and of violet and rose blossoms in funerary commemoration.

John Bodel is W. Duncan MacMillan II Professor of Classics and Professor of History at Brown University. He currently serves also as Co-Director of the Program in Early Cultures. Bodel is the author of over fifty articles and is author or editor of nine volumes, including, most recently, Ancient Documents and their Contexts. First North American Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (2011), with Nora Dimitrova (Boston 2015) and On Human Bondage: After Slavery and Social Death, with Walter Scheidel (Oxford 2016). His research focuses on ancient Roman social, economic, and cultural history, Roman epigraphy and Latin literature, especially of the empire. He has special interests in Roman religion, ancient slavery, funerals and burial customs, ancient writing systems, and Latin prose authors of the late Republic and early Empire. With Adele Scafuro, he edits the series Brill Studies in Greek and Roman Epigraphy, and since 1995, he has directed the U.S. Epigraphy Project, the purpose of which is to share information about Greek and Latin inscriptions in the USA (http://usepigraphy.brown.edu/).

The International Catacomb Society congratulates Shohet Scholars Steven Fine and Jodi Magness on the global impact of their pioneering and innovative work on Jewish archaeology and history:
An article by the Times of Israel highlights Fine's research on the Menorah, "the Western world’s oldest continuously used religious symbol": http://www.timesofisrael.com/7-facts-about-menorahs-the-most-enduring-symbol-of-the-jewish-people/.
LIve Science has listed the Huqoq mosaics (the scenes of Noah's Ark and the parting of the Red Sea), two of Magness' many discoveries on the site of a Byzantine-era synagogue, as one of the "The 9 Biggest Archaeological Discoveries of 2016": http://www.livescience.com/57314-biggest-archaeology-discoveries-2016.html (in fact, according to the article, most of the major discoveries of 2016 were made in Israel!).
The Shohet Scholars Program is an annual grant program of the International Catacomb Society for research on the Ancient Mediterranean from the Hellenistic Era to the Early Middle Ages. The next application deadline is January 15, 2017.  Information and application instructions are here.
#ShohetScholars @TimesofIsrael @YUNews @UNCCollege @LiveScience

International Catacomb Society directors, advisors, and current members are presenting at and moderating many sessions of the 2016 SBL/AAR Conference.  Co-hosted by the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion, this event will be held November 19-22, 2016 in San Antonio, TX. The 2016 conference program is online:  https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/AnnualMeeting.aspx,  Below are individual sessions that feature scholars with current ICS connections.  An impressive lineup not to be missed!

P19-335
National Association of Professors of Hebrew
11/19/2016 - from 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 217B (2nd Level - West) - Convention Center (CC)
Theme: Reading the New Testament as Second Temple Jewish Literature
Steven Fine, Yeshiva University, Presiding
Eran Shuali, Université de Strasbourg: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people ? robbers, evildoers, adulterers” (Luke 18:11): A Comparison of the Pharisee’s prayer with a Parallel from the Tosefta (30 min)
Jeffrey Paul Garcia, Nyack College: All Your Righteousness: The Gospels’ Witness to the Developing Importance of Charity in Ancient Jewish Halakha (30 min)
Alexandria Frisch, Ursinus College: The Deaths of Judas: A Literary “Harmonization” between the New Testament, the Hebrew Bible and Post-Biblical Literature (30 min)
R. Steven Notley, Nyack College: The Gospel of Luke as a Witness to Jewish Life and Faith in the Second Commonwealth (30 min)
Matthew Goldstone, New York University, Respondent (10 min)
Brian Schultz, Fresno Pacific University, Respondent (10 min)
Discussion (10 min)

S19-221
Historical Jesus
11/19/2016 from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Stars at Night 1 (3rd Level) - Convention Center (CC)
Theme: Parables and the Historical Jesus: The State of the Question
Recent years have seen a number of published studies and ongoing research projects on Jesus' parables. This session brings together leading parables scholars to discuss the state of the question.
Amy-Jill Levine, Vanderbilt University, Presiding (10 min)
John Crossan, DePaul University, Panelist (15 min)
John Meier, University of Notre Dame, Panelist (15 min)
Klyne Snodgrass, North Park Theological Seminary, Panelist (15 min)
Annette Merz, Protestantse Theologische Universiteit, Panelist (15 min)
R. Steven Notley, Nyack College, Panelist (15 min)
Ruben Zimmermann, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Panelist (15 min)
Break (5 min)
Discussion (45 min)

S21-304
Art and Religions of Antiquity
11/21/2016 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Republic C (4th Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Theme: Art and Destruction
Vasiliki Limberis, Temple University, Presiding
Robin M. Jensen, University of Notre Dame: Christian Destruction of Statues of the Gods in Roman North Africa (30 min)
Douglas Boin, Saint Louis University: The Destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria: Culture Clash or Collator in a Christian Proxy War? (30 min)
Jennifer Udell, Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art: A State of Destruction: Responses to ISIS and the Cultural Heritage Crisis in the Middle East (30 min)
Allison Cuneo, Boston University: Tracking Heritage Loss in the Midst of Armed Conflict: The ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives (30 min)
Arthur Urbano, Providence College (Rhode Island): Dismantling the Philosophers and Fashioning the Saints: The Rhetorical Deconstruction of Intellectual Authority and the Philosophical Heritage of Early Christian Iconography (30 min)

S19-340
Polis and Ekklesia: Investigations of Urban Christianity
11/19/2016 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Conference Room 6 (3rd Level) - Marriott Rivercenter (MRC)
Theme: Peter Lampe, From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries (Fortress Press, 2003)
James Harrison, Sydney College of Divinity, Presiding
John Kloppenborg, University of Toronto, Panelist (30 min)
Jutta Dresken-Weiland, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Panelist (30 min)
Mark Reasoner, Marian University (Indianapolis), Panelist (30 min)
Peter Lampe, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Respondent (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S20-107
Art and Religions of Antiquity
11/20/2016 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Republica C (4th Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Theme: Art and Religion of Syria and the Late Roman Empire
Lee Jefferson, Centre College, Presiding
Nicolas Bossu, Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum: The Dry Bones Prophecy (Ezk. 37:1-14) in Jewish Antiquity: Confrontation Between Ancient Literature and the Fresco in the Dura-Europos Synagogue (30 min)
Sean V. Leatherbury, Bowling Green State University: From Wall to Floor: Christian Mosaics of “Biblical” Scenes in Late Antique Syria (30 min)
Sarah Madole, Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY): Beyond the Mithraic Mysteries: Rereading the “X” of the Ludovisi Sarcophagus (30 min)
Catherine C. Taylor, Brigham Young University: Allegorical Conflation in the Mosaic of Euteknia, Philosophia, and Dikaiosyne from Shahba, Syria (30 min)
Business Meeting (30 min)

S20-207a
Christian Apocrypha
11/20/2016 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Crockett D (4th Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Theme: Apocryphal Acts: New Texts and Approaches
Tony Burke, York University, Presiding
Michael Flexsenhar III, Rhodes College: Creating a Christian World: Martyrdom, Memory, and ‘Caesar’s Household’ in the Apocryphal Acts (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Valentina Calzolari, University of Geneva: The Armenian Acts of Paul and Thecla (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Ivan Miroshnikov, Helsingin Yliopisto - Helsingfors Universitet: Towards a New Edition of the Coptic Acts of Andrew and Philemon (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Break (5 min)
Jonathan Henry, Princeton University: Thomas in Transmission: Some Noteworthy Witnesses to the Acts and Passion of Thomas (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Sung Soo Hong, The University of Texas at Austin: “The Word of the Father Shall Be to Them a Work of Salvation”: Thinking with the Chaste Body of Thecla (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Business Meeting (20 min)

S19-310
Christian Apocrypha
11/19/2016
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 214C (2nd Level - West) - Convention Center (CC)
Theme: Helmut Koester: In Memory of His Contributions to the Study of Christian Apocrypha
A panel in memory of Helmut Koester, one of the most influential scholars of the Christian Apocrypha in North America, assessing his ongoing legacy for this field.
Brent Landau, University of Texas at Austin, Presiding (5 min)
Melissa Harl Sellew, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Panelist (15 min)
Christine Thomas, University of California-Santa Barbara, Panelist (15 min)
Christoph Markschies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Humboldt University of Berlin, Panelist (15 min)
Break (10 min)
Stephen Patterson, Willamette University, Panelist (15 min)
Ann Graham Brock, Iliff School of Theology, Panelist (15 min)
Cavan Concannon, University of Southern California, Panelist (15 min)
Robyn Walsh, University of Miami, Panelist (15 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S21-216
Early Jewish Christian Relations
11/21/2016 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Conference Room 4 (3rd Level) - Marriott Rivercenter (MRC)
Theme: Borders
Ari Finkelstein, University of Cincinnati, Presiding
Jonathan Klawans, Boston University: The Pseudo-Jewishness of Pseudo-Phocylides (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Emanuel Fiano, Fordham University: A Communion of Genius: Ecclesiology and Intellectual Practices as Loci for the Parting of Christianity and Judaism in Late Antiquity (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Deborah Forger, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor: Jewish-Christian Relations in Fourth Century Roman Syria/Palestine: Could the Oral, rather than Written Remembrance of Jesus’s Words in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies underscore the Author-Editors con (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Shaye J.D, Cohen, Harvard University: The Discourses against the Jews of John Chrysostom and the "Parting of the Ways" (20 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Business Meeting (30 min)

S21-327
Archaeology of Religion in the Roman World; Inventing Christianity: Apostolic Fathers, Apologists, and Martyrs
Joint Session With: Archaeology of Religion in the Roman World, Inventing Christianity: Apostolic Fathers, Apologists, and Martyrs
11/21/2016 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 304B (3rd Level) - Convention Center (CC)
Theme: Early Christian Rome and its Material Culture
David Eastman, Ohio Wesleyan University, Presiding
Nicola Denzey Lewis, Brown University: Inventing Judaism: Rethinking Rome's Jewish Catacombs in light of Early Modern Christianity (30 min)
Gregor Kalas, University of Tennessee, Knoxville: Inner-city Burials in Early Christian Rome and the Funerals of the Roman Forum (30 min)
Felicity Harley-McGowan, Yale University: Horsing Around: The Palatine Crucifixion Graffito and Its Roman Audience (30 min)
David DeVore, Ball State University: An Ambassador for the Divine Logos in a Philosopher’s Garb: Emperors’ Self-Fashioning and Christian Philosophy in Second-Century Rome (30 min)
Business Meeting (30 min)

S21-311
Contextualizing North African Christianity
11/21/2016 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Travis A (3rd Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Theme: Exploring the Meaning of Punic Identity in Roman Africa
David Wilhite, Baylor University, Presiding
Matthew McCarty, University of British Columbia: The Continuities and Discontinuities of Punic Cults in Roman Africa (30 min)
Nathan Pilkington, Cornell University: Women in Carthaginian Religion (30 min)
David Riggs, Indiana Wesleyan University: Contending for Divine Favor: the Shared Religious Milieu of Rome and Punic Carthage (30 min)
James Rives, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: A Response: Assessing Punic Identity and Its Possible Ramifications for African Christianity (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S19-236
Metacriticism of Biblical Scholarship
11/19/2016 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Alamo B (2nd Level) - Marriott Riverwalk (MRW)
Theme: Alternative Realities: Other Worlds of Method
James Linville, University of Lethbridge, Presiding: Rodrigo de Sousa, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie
Reading and the Invention of the Text: Lessons from Jorge Luis Borges (30 min)
Judith Stack-Nelson, Hamline University: The Tyranny of Subtexts: Master Metaphors of Interpretive Accessibility in Biblical Studies and the Possibility of Exploring a Surface (30 min)
William "Chip" Gruen, Muhlenberg College: Comparative Textual Criticism and the Problem of Internal Evidence (30 min)
Seth Heringer, Azusa Pacific University: Biblical Studies without Historical Questions – What Then? (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S21-344
Religious Competition in Late Antiquity
11/21/2016 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 210B (2nd Level - West) - Convention Center (CC)
Gregg Gardner, University of British Columbia, Presiding (5 min)
Callie Callon, Queen's University: The Use of Physiognomy as Rhetorical Strategy in Fourth Century Religious Competition (20 min)
John Mandsager, University of South Carolina - Columbia: The Roman Villa as a Model for Rabbinic Competition for Space in the Judean Hills (20 min)
Lennart Lehmhaus, Freie Universität Berlin: Competing for Bodies of Knowledge: Medical Expertise between Rabbis and Others in Late Antiquity (20 min)
Jordan Rosenblum, University of Wisconsin-Madison: Bodies, Space, and Religious Competition in Late Antiquity (10 min)
Karl Shuve, University of Virginia: Episcopal Authority, Jewish Sacramenta, and the Specter of Cyprian: Augustine on Lying (20 min)
Kathleen Gibbons, Washington University: Reconsidering the Cliché of Determinism in Early Christian Heresiology (20 min)
Diane Fruchtman, DePauw University, Respondent (10 min)
Discussion (25 min)

S19-245
Religious Competition in Late Antiquity
11/19/2016
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 216 (2nd Level - West) - Convention Center (CC)
Theme: Competitive Giving
Ilaria Ramelli, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Presiding (5 min)
Krista Dalton, Columbia University in the City of New York: Teaching for the Tithe: Patronage and Gender in Palestinian Rabbinic Literature (25 min)
Margaret M. Mitchell, University of Chicago: “Don’t Consider My Continual Mention of This Topic a Cause for Censure!” Rhetoric and Economic Reality in John Chrysostom’s Appeals for Almsgiving (25 min)
Gregg Gardner, University of British Columbia: Wealth and Competitive Giving in Rabbinic Judaism (10 min)
David J. Downs, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena): Almsgiving and Competing Soteriologies in Second Century Christianity (25 min)
Paul A. Brazinski, Catholic University of America: Auditing the early medieval Papacy: Gregory the Great's gift giving in his registrum epistolarum (25 min)
Daniel Ullucci, Rhodes College: Asset Allocation Models for Salvation (10 min)
Discussion (25 min)

S22-141
Religious Competition in Late Antiquity
11/22/2016 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 214B (2nd Level - West) - Convention Center (CC)
Debra Ballentine, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Presiding (5 min)
Ari Finkelstein, University of Cincinnati: The Manipulation of Jewish Competitive Giving in Emperor Julian’s re-Judaization of Jerusalem and the Making of a Hellenic Empire in the mid-fourth century (20 min)
Sean Daly, Florida State University: Julian in the Middle: Julian's Imperial Reorganization and the Hymn to King Helios (20 min)
Rebecca Falcasantos, Providence College (Rhode Island): Julian and the Revitalization of Imperial Religion (10 min)
Catherine E. Bonesho, University of Wisconsin-Madison: The Polemics of Purim: Mythmaking in Theodosian Code 16:8:18 (20 min)
T. W. Dilbeck, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion: Spiritus Intus: Aen. 6.724ff in Christian and Pagan Sources (20 min)
Hugo Mendez, Yale University: Weaponizing Stephen: Caricature and Competition in the Revelation Sancti Stephani (20 min)
Nathaniel Desrosiers, Stonehill College, Respondent (10 min)
Discussion (25 min)

S21-226
Jewish Christianity / Christian Judaism
11/21/2016 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Crockett D (4th Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Petri Luomanen, University of Helsinki, Presiding (5 min)
Identity in Late Antique Syria: “Jewish-Christians,” Theurgists, and Prophets
Karen B. Stern, Brooklyn College (CUNY): Communicating with God(s) in Syrian Dura Europos (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Azzan Yadin-Israel, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey: Sacrifice and Divine Personhood: Rabbinic and Neoplatonic Perspectives (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Break (5 min)
Jae Han, University of Pennsylvania: Constructions of Prophecy and Prophethood in Late Antique Syria: Iamblichus' De Mysteriis and the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Timothy B. Sailors, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen: The Portrayal and Religious Significance of the Baptism of Jesus in the Pseudo-Clementine Romance (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Break (5 min)
Business Meeting (15 min)

S20-305
Art and Religions of Antiquity
11/20/2016
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 221C (2nd Level - East) - Convention Center (CC)
Theme: Review Session: Michael Peppard, The World's Oldest Church: Bible, Art and Ritual at Dura Europos, Syria (Yale University Press)
Felicity Harley-McGowan, Yale University, Presiding
Joan Branham, Providence College (Rhode Island), Panelist (25 min)
Stephen Davis, Yale University, Presiding (25 min)
Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent, Marquette University, Panelist (25 min)
Paul Bradshaw, University of Notre Dame, Panelist (25 min)
Michael Peppard, Fordham University, Respondent (25 min)
Discussion (25 min)

P21-155
The Qur’an and Late Antiquity (IQSA); Religious Competition in Late Antiquity
Joint Session With: The Qur’an and Late Antiquity (IQSA), Religious Competition in Late Antiquity
11/21/2016 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Grand A (3rd Level) - Marriott Rivercenter (MRC)
Theme: Violence and Belief Beyond the Qur'anic Milieu
This is the second of two panels commemorating the work of Thomas Sizgorich; the first was held at the 2016 IQSA Annual Meeting.
Lily Vuong, Central Washington University, Presiding
Ra'anan Boustan, University of California-Los Angeles and Karen Britt, Independent Scholar: Blood on the Floor: Representations of Violence and Communal Self-fashioning in the Synagogue Mosaics at Huqoq (30 min)
Adam Gaiser, Florida State University: Kharijite Militancy from a Late Antique Perspective (20 min)
Nathan S. French, Miami University: ‘Our Monasticism is Jihad’: On Pursuing the Numinous in Borderlands Classical and Jihadi-Salafi (20 min)

Religious Experience in Antiquity
11/20/2016 - 4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 209 (2nd Level - West) - Convention Center (CC)
Theme: 10 Year Commemorative Session
This session commemorates ten years of the Religious Experience in Antiquity Section at the SBL.
John Levison, Southern Methodist University, Presiding (5 min)
Colleen Shantz, Toronto School of Theology: Curiouser and Curiouser: Developments in Understandings of Embodiment and Contexts in Religious Experience (25 min)
Rodney A. Werline, Barton College: Reflections and Reliance on Ritual Theory and Its Applications to 1 Enoch (25 min)
Angela Kim Harkins, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry: Prayers in the Second Temple Period: Looking Back and Looking Forward (25 min)
Frances Flannery, James Madison University: Amulets, Materiality, and Religious Experience: Looking Backward at Religious Experience in the SBL, Looking Forward (25 min)
Discussion (45 min)

S21-203
Archaeology of the Biblical World
11/21/2016 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Republica C (4th Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Theme: Archaeology, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity
Byron McCane, Wofford College, Presiding
Dennis Mizzi, University of Malta, Matthew Grey, Brigham Young University and Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: The 2015-2016 Excavations at Huqoq in Israel’s Galilee (30 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Courtney J. Innes, University of British Columbia: Funerary Textiles Shrouded in Questions: Jewish Burials Shrouds of First-Century Jerusalem (30 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Mark Wilson, Asia Minor Research Center: Paul’s Travel on Roman Roads in Acts: What’s Naismith Got to Do with It? (30 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Jaimie Gunderson, University of Texas at Austin: Jonah’s Lover: The Erotics of the Jonah Typology on Christian Sarcophagi (30 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Business Meeting (10 min)

S21-246
Speech and Talk in the Ancient Mediterranean World; Space, Place, and Lived Experience in Antiquity
Joint Session With: Speech and Talk in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Space, Place, and Lived Experience in Antiquity
11/21/2016 - 1:00 PM to 3:45 PM
Room: Travis A (3rd Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Theme: Speech, Space, and Place in Antiquity
The Speech and Talk and Space, Place, and Lived Experience in Antiquity Program Units are hosting a joint session exploring the confluences of speech, space, and gender.
Timothy Milinovich, Dominican University, Presiding (5 min)
Sigrid Kjaer, University of Texas at Austin: Speaking Yet Silent: Eunuchs as Messengers in the Book of Esther (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Dana Robinson, St. Mary's Seminary: Men in the Dining Room, Women in the Kitchen? Gender and Food Preparation in Antiquity (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Susan E. Hylen, Emory University: Mapping the Terrain of Virtuous Speech (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Anna C. Miller, Xavier University: Women in the “Household of God”: Democratic Discourse and the Household Topos in 1 Timothy (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Katherine A. Shaner, Wake Forest University: Women, Slaves, and Disenfranchized Workers: Protest Speech in Mark 11:15–19 (25 min)
Discussion (15 min)

S22-133
Mind, Society, and Religion in the Biblical World; Ritual in the Biblical World
Joint Session With: Mind, Society, and Religion in the Biblical World, Ritual in the Biblical World
11/22/2016 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Conference Room 14 (3rd Level) - Marriott Rivercenter (MRC)
Theme: New Books on Cognitive and Ritual Approaches to the New Testament and Early Christianity
This session will discuss two recent publications on cognitive and ritual approaches to the New Testament and Early Christianity: Risto Uro, Ritual and Christian Beginnings (Oxford University Press, 2016) and Istvan Czachesz, Cognitive Science and the New Testament: A New Approach (Oxford University Press, 2016).
Colleen Shantz, Toronto School of Theology, Presiding (5 min)
Richard DeMaris, Valparaiso University, Panelist (20 min)
April DeConick, Rice University, Panelist (20 min)
Daniel Ullucci, Rhodes College, Panelist (20 min)
Risto Uro, University of Helsinki, Respondent (15 min)
Istvan Czachesz, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Respondent (15 min)
Discussion (55 min)

S20-212a
Hellenistic Judaism
11/20/2016 - 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 301B (3rd Level) - Convention Center (CC)
Theme: What can domestic artifacts tell us about ethnic, religious and cultural affiliations?
Sandra Gambetti, College of Staten Island (CUNY), Presiding (5 min)
Andrea Berlin, Boston University: Re-visiting Gamla – and Revising the “Household Judaism” Model (25 min)
Avner Ecker, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Marking Your Household Commodities in Greek: The Transition from Aramaic to Greek on Idumean Ostraka (25 min)
Shulamit Miller, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Life in the Judaean Mansions (25 min)
Barak Monnickendam-Givon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Similar Vessels Different Behaviors: A Multi Communal Perspective of the Southern Levant (25 min)
Karen Stern, Brooklyn College (CUNY), Respondent (25 min)
Discussion (20 min)

S20-132
Maria, Mariamne, Miriam: Rediscovering the Marys
11/20/2016 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Bonham B (3rd Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Theme: Re-imagining the Marys: Mission and Leadership
Mary Ann Beavis, St. Thomas More College, Presiding
Cornelia Horn, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen: The Power of Leadership through Mediation: Mart Mariam in the Syriac and Arabic Apocryphal Tradition (20 min)
Juana Manzo, University of St. Thomas: Mary's Mission according to "Guadalupan Sermons" of the 17th and 18th Centuries (20 min)
Ally Kateusz, University of Missouri - Kansas City: Mary as Patroness of the Catholic Charismatic Revival Movement in Mexico: A Possible Analogy for Better Understanding the Longue Duree of Marian Religion (20 min)
Nadia Marais, Stellenbosch University: Lovelyn, Belhar, and Mary: Exploring the Rhetoric of Confession as Resistance to Injustice (20 min)
Discussion (40 min)
Business Meeting (30 min)

S22-127
John's Apocalypse and Cultural Contexts Ancient and Modern
11/22/2016 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Presidio A (3rd Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Leslie Baynes, Missouri State University, Presiding
David L. Barr, Wright State University: Dis-guising Jesus: St(r)aying in Character in John’s Apocalypse (25 min)
Daniel I. Morrison, McMaster Divinity College: The Divine King of Resistance: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Revelation 1 (25 min)
Eric C. Smith, Iliff School of Theology: “Indefinite Accumulation in an Immobile Place”: Heterotopia, Heterochrony, and the Apocalypse of John (25 min)
J. David Woodington, University of Notre Dame: A Fitting End: John’s Use of the Lake of Fire in Revelation (25 min)
Paul Middleton, University of Chester: Confronting Violence in the Apocalypse: Reading Revelation through ‘The Brick Testament’ (25 min)
C. Thomas Fraatz, Boston College: Rebooted Scripture: Revelation, Star Wars, and an Intertextual Aesthetics of Scripture (25 min)

S22-118
Early Exegesis of Genesis 1
11/22/2016 - 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Bowie C (2nd Level) - Grand Hyatt (GH)
Volker Drecoll, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Presiding
Ute Possekel, Harvard University: Bardaisan of Edessa and the Genesis Account of Creation (30 min)
Christoph Markschies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Humboldt University of Berlin: The Unkown Gnostic Text of Deir el-Balaizah (30 min)
John Reeve, Andrews University: Irenaeus on Genesis 1 (30 min)
Ronald E. Heine, Northwest Christian University: Origen on Genesis 1:1-5 (30 min)

- See more at: https://www.sbl-site.org/meetings/Congresses_ProgramBook.aspx?MeetingId=29#sthash.um56Qr1t.dpuf

ICS warmly congratulates one of the 2015 Shohet Scholars, Prof. Steven Fine, upon the publication of his latest book with Harvard University Press, entitled The Menorah: From the Bible to Modern Israel (Cambridge, MA, 2016). In this work, Fine, the Dean Pinkhos Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University, analyzes the appearance of the Menorah throughout history, even in unexpected settings (and for this, there are illustrations, for in some cases, one really has to see it to believe it!). A must-read also for the latest on Fine's study of the Arch of Titus reliefs, that has brought to light new details about the original creation and decoration of this monument of the Triumph of the Roman Emperor Titus in Rome in 71 CE over the Jews in Jerusalem the year before.
The second volume in the series, on the Cross, will come out this spring, and is authored by International Catacomb Society Vice President, Robin M. Jensen, The Patrick O'Brien Professor of Theology Biblical Studies/Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity History of Christianity at the University of Notre Dame.
To order Fine's Menorah, please visit the site: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674088795. It is also available for purchase in bookstores, and at book signing events, including one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on December 15, 2016.

Honoring the eve of Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year, also known as the Feast of Trumpets, "a day of shouting/blasting" (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה).  May it be sweet and joyous.  May you be written and sealed for a good year.