Abstract
Bellelli, Vincenzo and Paolo Xella (eds.), Le lamine di Pyrgi. Nuovi studi sulle iscrizioni in etrusco e in fenicio nel cinquantenario della scoperta (Studi Epigrafici e Linguistici sul Vicino Oriente antico, nuova serie, 32-33; Verona: Essedue Edizioni, 2016), pp. ii + 254, and 8 plates. €5800. ISBN 978-88-85697-75-5; ISSN 2239-5393.
It is now over half a century since three small gold plaques were found at Pyrgi, north-west of Rome in Lazio, near ancient Caere, in the present-day province of Santa Severa. Two have inscriptions in Etruscan and one is written in Phoenician, and they date to the 6th–5th centuries bce. A complete issue of the periodical SEL has been devoted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of these exceptional finds. The Phoenician text is discussed by M.G. Amadasi Guzzo, P.C. Schmitz, P. Xella and J.Á. Zamora. The Etruscan texts are analysed by I.-X. Adiego, V. Bellfiore, V. Benelli and G. Colonna. Contributions on historical and religious aspects are by D.F. Maras, J. Martínez Pinna, M. Torelli and C. Smith. The history of interpretation is provided by the late G. Garbini, and a full bibliography has been compiled by V. Bellelli. This comprehensive volume brings us up to date in respect of these unique tablets and, since it deals with bilingual documents and problems of epigraphy and language as well as the assimilation of a foreign cult, it may contribute to a better understanding of similar aspects of the OT.
Wilfred G.E. Watson
Finkelstein, Israel, Christian Robin and Thomas Römer (eds.), Alphabets, Texts and Artefacts in the Ancient Near East: Studies presented to Benjamin Sass (Paris: Van Dieren, 2016), pp. 565. €120.00. ISBN 978-2-37466-004-2.
Following a biographical sketch and bibliography, European and Israeli scholars have contributed 27 essays to mark Sass's retirement from Tel Aviv University. A. Berlejung sets the promissory oath and self-cursing of Psalm 137 beside new Babylonian texts (‘New Life, New Skills and New Friends in Exile: The Loss and Rise of Capitals of the Judeas in Babylonia’). B. Brandl offers ‘Rakib'il and “Kubaba of Aram” at Ördekburnu and Zinjirli and New Observations on Kubaba at Zinjirli, Carchemish and Ugarit’ and O. Misch-Brandl ‘A New Perspective on the Ivory Pyxis from the Fosse Temple at Lachish’. F. Briquel-Chatonnet assesses ‘Inscriptions de prestige et scripture du quotidien: Le corpus épigraphique en hébreu ancien au mirror de son context ouest-sémitique’, while A. Fantalkin answers ‘No!’ to ‘Was There a “Greek Renaissance” in 7th Century BCE Philistia?’ I. Finkelstein finds a North Israelite writing an oral heroic tale of pre-Omride conflict (‘Historical-Geographical Observations on the Ehud-Egon Tale in Judges’). I. Gajda publishes ‘Un goblet à libation de l'arabie du Sud’. O. Goldwasser expounds ‘From the Iconic to the Linear: The Egyptian Scribes of Lachish and the Modification of the Early Alphabet in the Late Bronze Age’, and D. Ilan follows ‘The Life and Times of an Ivory Handle of the Second Millennium bce: A Tale of Prestige and Demise’. O. Keel seeks a theological middle way in ‘Unheilige “Heilige Schriften”’. A. Knauf describes the Deir ‘Alla Balaam text, the Mesha Stele, the Balu'a Pestle and the Marzeah Papyrus as ‘Israelite Inscriptions published as Moabite’, and in ‘The Kuntillet ‘Ajrud Inscriptions Forty Years after their Discovery’ A. Lemaire discusses and revises readings. A. Maeir and L. Hitchcock present ‘ “And the Canaanite was then in the Land”? A Critical View of the “Canaanite Enclave” in Iron I Southern Canaan’. J. Marzahn, ‘Betrifft: Letternstempel’, explores ‘movable type’ in Assyrian brick stamps. Y. Maurey and A.S. Fink include a damning study by B. Bayer in ‘Putting the Seal on Ma‘adana: A Case of Forgery and its Ramifications’, and A. Millard contests Sass's dating in ‘Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions: Their Distribution and Significance’. T. Ornan offers ‘The Beloved, Ne'ehevet, and Other Does: Reflections on the Motif of Grazing or Wild Horned Animals’. R. Reich locates the remains of ‘The Jerusalem Market in the Late Second Temple Period’. C.J. Robin and M. Gorea analyse and illustrate Thamudic texts in ‘L'Alphabet de Ḥimà (Arabie Séoudite)’, while C. Rollston helpfully presents ‘The Equation of Biblical Pharaoh “Shishaq” with Pharaoh Ramesses II: A Philological and Epigraphic Dismantling of Egyptologist David Rohl's Proposal’. T. Römer resolves ‘L’Έnigme de ‘Ashtar-Kemosh dans la Stèle de Mesha’ as Ishtar consort of Chemosh. M.G. Masetti-Rouault and O. Rouault reveal ‘A View from the Bridge: Notes about the Assyrian Empire Economic System, as seen from Tell Masaikh (Lower Syrian Middle Euphrates Valley)’. M. Sebbane's extensive ‘Ceremonial and Ritual Maces in the Temples of the Ancient Near East, and the Nature of the Hoard from Nahal Mishmar’ concludes they were votive gifts. In ‘Facsimile Creation: Review of Algorithmic Approaches’, A. Shaus, B. Sober, S. Faigenbaum-Golovin, A. Mendel-Geberovich, E. Piasetzky and E. Turkey outline advances in reproducing ancient script, and C. Uehlinger offers ‘Learning by Doing: Distinguishing Different Hands at Work in the Drawing and Paintings of Kuntillet ‘Ajrud’, finding the pithos drawings sketches for murals. R.-B. Wartke inspects ‘Das Uruk-Kultgefäss aus technischer Sicht’, and R. Zadok's ‘Neo- and Late-Babylonian Notes’ (including ‘More on Chaldeans and Aramaeans’) closes this rich volume.
Alan Millard
Hartman, Dorota (ed.), Archivio di Babatha. I. Testi greci e ketubbah (Testi del Vicino Oriente antico, 6; Brescia: Paideia, 2016), pp. 178. €25.00. ISBN 978-88-394-0897-6.
This is an Italian edition—with accompanying translations—of the Greek texts from the 2nd-century ce Babatha archive (published by Naphtali Lewis in 1989) and the marriage contract from the same cache (published by Yigael Yadin and colleagues in 1994).
(Book List Editor)
Hasel, Michael G., Yosef Garfinkel and Shifra Weiss, Socoh of the Judean Shephelah: The 2010 Survey (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2017), pp. xvi + 240. $59.50. ISBN 978-1-57506-766-7. [Distributed in the UK by Alban Books.]
Few archaeological studies preceded the 2010 survey made of Khirbet Shuweikeh and Khirbet ‘Abbād (on the southern slopes of the Elah Valley) which is now reported here. About sixty 10 × 10 metre squares were randomly plotted on the hill (about 10 per cent of the surface) and the entire material remains in each square collected, as far as possible. The contents of the individual squares are briefly summarized, while a long chapter is devoted to cataloguing the pottery and describing two sets of tombs (little is said about buildings and walls because this was only a surface survey). A petrographic analysis of the Iron Age ceramics is included (most pottery was made locally). A ‘Zaphan (son of) Abima'az’ seal impression and a two-winged lmlk seal impression are discussed. More than half the pottery collected from the site surface was Iron Age II, but there was also pottery from the Chalcolithic and Middle Bronze, Persian-Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods. Early Bronze, Late Bronze, and Iron I yielded little or nothing. Tombs typical of Early Bronze were found in the southern area but yielded mainly Iron II pottery (perhaps cleaned out and reused at the later time), but tombs in the northern area were Iron Age II. A surface survey can tell only so much, but the purpose has been to suggest the most appropriate part of the site to excavate. It is with excavation that the secrets of the site will be revealed.
Lester L. Grabbe
Heidemann, Stefan and Kevin Butcher, Regional History and the Coin Finds from Assur: From the Achaemenids to the Nineteenth Century / Regionale Geschichte und Münzfunde aus Assur: Von der Zeit der Achämeniden bis zum neunzehnten Jahrhundert (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 148; Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in Assur, F: Fundgruppen, 8; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017), pp. xiv + 128, with 31 plates. €82.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10761-7.
This survey of the coin finds joins other volumes in the series (see below, p. 27) to give not only contemporary history of Assyria but also to provide an important element in the later history of the region, in this case up to the 19th century. Heidemann first provides a Preface (in English), explaining the history of publishing the coins, then an Überblick (in German) about the excavations, the coin finds, and the coin inventory. Chapter 2 (by Butcher, in English) will be of most interest to readers, on the coins during the Achaemenid, Seleucid, and Arsacid periods, including Roman coins (coins were not in use in Assyrian times, of course). Most of the Seleucid coins are from the time of Antiochus III. Roman provincial coins began to be imported into the region beginning about the 1st century ce, many from Antioch. Some may have come through trade, but some may have been deliberately imported for use in Mesopotamia. An interesting phenomenon was that bronze coins were sometimes deliberately cut in half and still circulated locally, apparently with approval of the authorities. Chapter 3 (Heidemann, in German) updates and expands a 1996 publication on the coins in the Sassanian, Islamic, and Ottoman periods. A bibliography and a lengthy concordance, cataloguing the location of the original find of each coin, its present location, and its publication, along with photographic plates complete the volume. This is likely to become the definitive publication on the subject.
Lester L. Grabbe
Killebrew, Ann E. and Gabriele Faßbeck, Viewing Ancient Jewish Art and Archaeology: VeHinnei Rachel. Essays in Honor of Rachel Hachlili (JSJSup, 172; Leiden: Brill, 2016), pp. xxviii + 460. €150.00/$194.00. ISBN 978-90-04-15685-2.
This Festschrift consists of 18 essays by 23 authors covering an enormous range of subjects. M. Aviam examines two groups of sarcophagi from Sepphoris and Tiberias which confirm that Jews in Galilee did not use figurative art. G. Avni and B. Zissu discuss the Tombs of the Prophets on the Mount of Olives surveyed by them in 1996 and conclude that their use for burial in the Byzantine period was secondary, their original function remaining unknown. J.W. Betlyon and A.E. Killebrew write about a hoard of nearly 900 4th-century ce bronze coins found in 1990 at Qa⋅rin village which they believe were buried for safekeeping some time after 367. E. Dvorjetski surveys lavatories from biblical to Byzantine times describing their locations, characteristics and sanitary regulations. G. Faßbeck recounts how James Simon, the founder of the German Oriental Society, managed to get the Society to grant prime place for research into Galilee's ancient synagogues, by any reckoning a surprising choice. S. Fine considers the images of Torah Shrines found in Rome and Sardis which in contrast to Palestine are presented open with the scrolls exposed. Z. Gal reports on the excavations at the Christian village of Tamra which reveals a typical site of Lower Galilee's rural settlement system which flourished from the Roman through to the early Islamic period. R. Gersht and P. Gendelman discuss the amphora and krater in ancient Jewish art describing types, materials used, and comparison with non-Jewish examples and argue that, in spite of their association with pagan and Christian symbolism, they depict ideas deeply rooted in Jewish thought. M. Hershkovitz considers Jewish oil lamps of the 2nd–1st centuries bce and notes that, while the Jewish Radial Lamp was modelled on imported ware, its decoration with rare exceptions excluded all figurative representation for religious reasons. A. Kloner and S. Whetstone look at a burial chamber complex of the Second Temple period on Mount Scopus and describe in detail the many ossuaries and other contents found. N. Kokkinos goes ‘beyond the Jordan’ to consider Herodian Peraea, an area larger than Galilee of which there remains a real gap in our knowledge partly due to a lack of artefacts. E.C. Lapp explains the importance of the discovery at Aqaba of part of a 4th-century ce Alexandrian clay lamp. L.I. Levine surveys at length the archaeological evidence for Israelite art from the 13th to the 6th centuries bce from both urban and rural settlements which he relates to the biblical evidence and despite difficulties of interpretation holds that Israelite religion was more diverse and pluralistic than often supposed. G. Mazor records the extent of the imperial cult at Nysa-Scythopolis which could manifest itself anywhere in the city and remained in force even after the Christian takeover. C.L. Meyers and E.M. Meyers reflect on the diversity of the forms of menorahs discovered at Sepphoris and argue that by the early Byzantine period this sign had become a visual marker of things Jewish. D. Milson offers some observations on the ‘Bema’ platforms in the ancient synagogues of Beth Alpha, Chorazin and Susiya whose function remains uncertain. R. Reich considers the water installations at Qumran and argues that they are not cisterns but were used as miqra'ot for ritual immersion. Finally, A. Segal describes the Colosseum in Rome built with booty from Titus's victory in the First Jewish War. Each essay is supported by a bibliography. The volume is lavishly illustrated and forms a worthy tribute to an honoured scholar whose publications are listed.
Anthony Phillips
Lipschits, Oded, Yuval Gadot, Benjamin Arubas and Manfred Oeming, What Are the Stones Whispering? Ramat Raḥel: 3000 Years of Forgotten History (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2017), pp. vi + 183. $69.50. ISBN 978-1-57506-498-7.
The excavation of Ramat Raḥel was renewed for six years under the current excavators, after a similar number under Y. Aharoni. The Introduction gives a detailed account of the current excavations and the people involved, followed by Section One which discusses geography, topography, and geology and also a history of research of the site. Section Two covers the history and archaeology of Ramat Raḥel as a government and administrative centre from the Late Iron Age to the Early Hellenistic Period. This includes the foundation in the late 8th or early 7th century bce and three building phases and excursuses on the lmlk, Yehud, and yršlm stamp impressions. It becomes very clear how important the government centre here was at this time. Section Three describes the fourth building phase and the history of the site from the Hasmonaean period to the First Jewish Revolt when the site ceased to be a government centre and became simply a Jewish village. Section Four recounts the fifth building phase and the site as a rural settlement in the Late Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic periods to the modern period when it became the site of Kibbutz Ramat Raḥel. This section also discusses the Hadrian bulla, coins, and landscape archaeology. Many readers will be grateful for this overview which covers the essentials but is more user-friendly than the official report.
Lester L. Grabbe
Lipschits, Oded and Aren M. Maeir (eds.), The Shephelah during the Iron Age: Recent Archaeological Studies (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2017), pp. x + 207. 85 illustrations, most in fill colour. $64.50. ISBN 978-1-57506-486-4.
The present book covers a range of archaeological sites in the area of the Judaean foothills known as the Shephelah. The essays included in this collection are: O. Lipschits, Y. Gadot, and M. Oeming, ‘Four Seasons of Excavations at Tel Azekah: The Expected and (Especially) Unexpected Results’; S. Bunimovitz and Z. Lederman, ‘Swinging on the “Sorek Seesaw”: Tel Beth-Shemesh and the Sorek Valley in the Iron Age’; I. Shai, ‘Tel Burna: A Judahite Fortified Town in the Shephelah’; S.M. Oritz and S.R. Wolff, ‘Tel Gezer Excavations 2006–2015: The Transformation of a Border City’; O. Borowski, ‘Tel Halif in the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age’; Y. Garfinkel, ‘The Iron Age City of Khirbet Qeiyafa’; A.M. Maeir, ‘Philistine Gath after 20 Years: Regional Perspectives on the Iron Age at Tell es-Safi/Gath’; R.E. Tappy, ‘The Archaeology and History of Tel Zayit: A Record of Liminal Life’; and I. Koch, ‘Settlements and Interactions in the Shephelah During the Late Second through Early First Millennia bce’. The first report on Tel Azekah by Lipschits, Gadot and Oeming provides a very clear overview of the site and its excavation history, covering finds from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Hellenistic and Roman periods, as well as unexpected results from the more recent Lautenschläger Azekah Expedition. One such result was the discovery of an extensive Middle Bronze fortification when the scanty yield of Middle Bronze finds in the initial survey suggested that Azekah was not large enough to be fortified during this period. Another site of ongoing interest is Khirbet Qeiyafa. Garfinkel's assessment of the site, its fortifications and material culture demonstrate convincingly that the settlement of Khirbet Qeiyafa was, as he asserts, contemporaneous with biblical tradition regarding Judaean state-formation, the exploits of King David, and military clashes with the Philistines. No doubt, this is very intriguing, especially in relation to the possible identification of Khirbet Qeiyafa as biblical Shaaraim (1 Sam. 17.52). There is a wealth of up-to-date information here that will certainly be of interest to biblical scholars concerned with the history of the Iron Age. Each of the nine contributions is detailed and fascinating, and they come together as an important resource for both archaeologists and text scholars alike.
Seth Cole
Meinhold, Wiebke, Ritualbeschreibungen und Gebete II (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 147; Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in Assur, E: Inschriften, IX: Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts, 7; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017), pp. xi + 196. 54 plates. €54.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10805-8.
The Assur-Forschungsstelle (Assur Research Centre) in Heidelberg is slowly and with meticulous care making its way through the smaller, more difficult texts that were discovered at Assur (a.k.a. Ashur) during the German excavations. This is the second of three planned volumes on rituals and prayers in this series (vol. 1, published in 2007, was reviewed in B.L. 2012, p. 162). The value of these difficult texts lies in showing what kind of ritual texts were available in the libraries in Assur and were used by scribes and perhaps ritual specialists. For most readers of these pages, the texts are so fragmentary that they serve perhaps as a pointer to other editions of related ritual texts known from elsewhere. They will also serve as an example of how important rituals and ritual texts were in the daily lives of many people in ancient Western Asia, including ancient Israel and Judah. For Assyriologists the volume helps complete our understanding of the libraries at Assur and of the nature of the texts available in them. It is hoped that in a few years, this volume will join some of the preceding volumes in the impressive online edition of the entire series (Keilschrifttexte aus Assur literarischen Inhalts) (http://www.haw.uni-heidelberg.de/forschung/forschungsstellen/keilschrift/kal-online.de.html). The author is to be thanked for completing this difficult task in such a helpful way.
Jonathan Stökl
Miglus, Peter A., Karen Radner and Franciszek M. Stępniowski, Ausgrabungen in Assur. Wohnquartiere in der Weststadt, Teil I (Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 152; Ausgrabungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft in Assur, A: Allgemeines, 4; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017), pp. ix + 296, including 109 table pages. 15 plates. €98.00. ISBN 978-3-447-10742-6; ISSN 0342-4464.
Earlier volumes on Assur were reviewed in B.L. 2010, pp. 166-67; 2012, p. 162; 2013, pp. 190, 198-201; 2014, p. 166; and 2017, pp. 16, 18–19, 23. This new volume publishes the results of excavations in the residential quarter of Assur known as W-1, carried out mainly in 1989–90 and 2000–1, both interrupted by Gulf wars. The volume is in German except for one chapter in English. After an introductory ch. 1, a long ch. 2 discusses the excavation of individual rooms and buildings. Chapter 3 describes the architecture and the artifacts found. Chapter 4 is on the tombs (both Parthian and Assyrian tombs were found here). The long ch. 5 is on two archives of cuneiform tablets, given in transliteration and German translation, with brief comments. Chapter 6 is on four amulets, and ch. 7 (in English) is on the human remains. Many readers will be most interested in the texts, which consist of an archive (52a) of 75 texts mainly relating to Dūrī-Aššur, a merchant (in partnership with three others), and another archive (52b) of 15 texts on ‘Egyptians’ (almost all the names in it are Egyptian). A variety of texts are represented: correspondence concerning various matters relating to trade, legal documents (purchase of a house, inheritance, marriage, runaway slaves), receipts, loans, administrative texts relating to trade journeys, and lists of stones (amulets?). The important Assyrian city of Assur continues to give up its secrets.
Lester L. Grabbe
Milson, David (ed.), Strata: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, vol. 34 (London: The Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, 2016), pp. 263. Numerous figures. £20.00 p.a. ISSN 2042-7867.
In the latest AIAS annual bulletin the studies pertaining to the biblical period concern finds at Ein el-Jarba in the Jezreel Valley from the Neolithic to the Early Chalcolithic periods (K. Streit), three goddess figurines from Canaanite Lachish (I. Weissbein, Y. Garfinkel, M.G. Hasel and M.G. Klingbeil), cult vessels from the Iron Age II fortress at ‘En Hazeva in the Arava desert plain (J. Gunneweg and M. Balla), minute cultural artefacts from the Persian period discovered through soil-flotation analysis at Ashkelon (E.H.E. Lass), and excavations of the castra or legionary base of the Roman Sixth Legion at Legio/el-Lajjun near Megiddo (Y. Tepper, J. David and M.J. Adams), as well as a paper—in response to an earlier Strata paper by R. Gophna and Y. Paz—arguing for the need to develop a fuller periodization for the Early Bronze Age 1 (E. Braun). There is also a set of articles on Mezad Zohar, a medieval fort near the Dead Sea, plus the customary sections of Book Reviews, Lecture Summaries, Grant Reports, and Reports from Jerusalem—the latter including news of the discovery of a clay impression of a seal reading ‘Belonging to King Hezekiah [son of] King Ahaz of Judah’ followed by the symbol of a sun with two wings flanked by ankh symbols representing life, and the discovery of two further seals bearing the names of ‘Elihana bat Gael’ (a rare case of a female name on a seal, and indeed the report says that ‘she must have been of a very elevated status as her name is given as the daughter of her father and not as the wife of her husband, which was the more common case’, p. 255) and of ‘Sa'aryahu ben Shabenyahu’.
John Jarick
Price, Randall, with H. Wayne House, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017), pp. 408. $42.99. ISBN 978-0-310-28691-2.
Although making a welcome disclaimer that archaeology neither proves nor disproves the Bible and inveighing against reckless claims made in sensationalist stories, the authors ultimately believe the Bible will always be vindicated when ‘properly understood’. Within this ideological boundary, the commentary here provides a useful catalogue of archaeological data. Divided into sections on Old Testament, ‘Inter-testamental Period’ (one had thought the term had disappeared!), and New Testament, it is mainly organized by the literature. The secondary bibliography is selective, often omitting studies that do not agree with their ideology of the Bible (for example, none of my many studies on ancient Israel or early Judaism is listed, but under NT an article on synagogues suddenly appears). Controversies are touched on but the firm emphasis is on views that ‘support’ the biblical account. Thus, for example, a variety of material is drawn on to establish the kingdom of David and Solomon: inscriptions alleged to be forgeries, the controversial interpretations of Eilat Mazar and Yosef Garfinkel, statements taken out of context, and unreferenced interpretations. But there is a lot of useful material here if one is careful to follow up the references and note the views of those (often [mis]labelled ‘minimalists’) who disagree with the interpretation in the text.
Lester L. Grabbe
Zertal, Adam, z"l, and Nivi Mirkham, z"l, The Manasseh Hill Country Survey. III. From Nahal ‘Iron to Nahal Shechem (ed. Shay Bar; Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, 21.3; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. x + 603. €193.00/$250.00. ISBN 978-90-04-31229-6; ISSN 1566-2055.
Zertal, Adam, z"l, and Shay Bar, The Manasseh Hill Country Survey. IV. From Nahal Bezeq to the Sartaba (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, 21.4; Leiden: Brill, 2017), pp. x + 766. €121.00/$140.00. ISBN 978-90-04-34695-6; ISSN 1566-2055.
The first two volumes were reviewed in B.L. 2005, p. 37, and 2009, pp. 35-36. The present volumes have been considerably expanded and rewritten from the original reports in Hebrew. Volume 3 takes in the most northern part of the survey area, including units 22 (Nahal ‘Iron/Wadi ‘Arah), 23 (fringes of Jezreel and the Ta'anach hills), 24 (hills of Ya'bad), 25 (district of Narbatah), and 26 (area of Bal'ah). Prior to the survey, the area ‘was practically a tabula rasa’ as far as archaeological exploration was concerned (p. 1). Catalogued in this region are 202 sites, including such significant sites as the ‘Arunah pass, Khirbet el-Ḥamam (Arubboth-Narbatah), and el-Aḥwat (with a city from the 13th–12th centuries bce). Appendixes cover such subjects as the Neolithic-Chalcolithic site of es-Suweisseh, coins, a vineyard of the Roman-Byzantine period, a bronze figurine from Khirbet Yannun, and a preliminary report on excavations at Tel Esur (Assawir). Volume 4 is basically a supplement to vol. 2, including the narrow fringe area (Ghor and Zor) between the region covered by vol. 2 and the Jordan River. These include units 27 (southern Beit She'an Valley), 28 (narrow Jordan Valley), 29 (Nahal Tirzah/Wadi Far'ah floodplain), and 30 (the Sartaba range and surroundings). Sartaba was the site of the Hellenistic fortress of Alexandrion (possibly built by Alexander Jannaeus). Catalogued are 204 sites. Appendixes discuss flint assemblages, coins, and excavations at Bedhat esh-Sha'ab, Yafit (3), and Elevation Point -167. These English-language volumes have become the definitive reports on the region. A fifth volume is planned and possibly a couple more.
Lester L. Grabbe
Note also the following books reviewed in other sections of this Book List:
Geyer, Bernard et al. (eds.), De l’île d'Aphrodite au Paradis perdu, itinéraire d'un gentilhomme lyonnais: En homage à Yves Calvet — see p. 210
Hutton, Jeremy M. and Aaron D. Rubin (eds.), Epigraphy, Philology and the Hebrew Bible: Methodological Perspectives on Philological and Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible in Honor of Jo Ann Hackett — see p. 252
Petrovich, Douglas, The World's Oldest Alphabet: Hebrew as the Language of the Proto-Consonantal Script — see p. 257
Renberg, Gil H., Where Dreams May Come: Incubation Sanctuaries in the Greco-Roman World — see p. 214
Schwemer, Daniel, The Anti-Witchcraft Ritual Maqlû: The Cuneiform Sources of a Magic Ceremony from Ancient Mesopotamia — see p. 216
Steitler, Charles W., The Solar Deities of Bronze Age Anatolia: Studies in Texts of the Early Hittite Kingdom — see p. 217
Taracha, Piotr, Two Festivals Celebrated by a Hittite Prince (CTH 647.I and II-III): New Light on Local Cults in North-Central Anatolia in the Second Millennium BC — see p. 218
Winitzer, Abraham, Early Mesopotamian Divination Literature: Its Organizational Framework and Generative and Paradigmatic Characteristics — see p. 219