Ester Eshel Libri

"This book offers a fresh look at the status of the scribe in society, his training, practices, and work in the biblical world. What was the scribe's role in these societies? Were there rival scribal schools? What was their role in daily life? How many scripts and languages did they grasp? Did they master political and religious rhetoric? Did they travel or share foreign traditions, cultures, and beliefs? Were scribes redactors, or simply copyists? What was their influence on the redaction of the Bible? How did they relate to the political and religious powers of their day? Did they possess any authority themselves? These are the questions that were tackled during an international conference held at the University of Strasbourg on June 17-19, 2019. The conference served as the basis for this publication, which includes fifteen articles covering a wide geographical and chronological range, from Late Bronze Age royal scribes to refugees in Masada at the end of the Second Temple period." --Provided by publisher

In January 2011, the David and Jemima Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center for Jewish History hosted its second international conference at Bar-Ilan University, honoring the late Professor Hanan Eshel, the center's founding academic director. This collection of articles collectively explores daily life in Israel from the First Temple Period to the Talmudic era, as reflected in various inscriptions from those times. Schiffman provides a summary of Hanan’s contributions as an introduction. A? ituv examines the language and religious perspectives of the Kuntilet ‘Ajrud inscriptions. Mazar and A? ituv present a survey of numerous short inscriptions from Mazar’s excavation at Tel Re? ov. Maeir and Eshel analyze four brief contemporary inscriptions from Tell es-Safi, identified as the Philistine city of Gath. Demsky addresses theoretical aspects of literacy in ancient Israel, while Grabbe explores the role of scribes during the Second Temple Period. Zissu, Langford, Ecker, and Eshel report on both Aramaic and Latin graffiti found in a first and second-century CE oil press at Khirbet ‘Arâk Hâla. Rappaport surveys Jewish coins from the Persian Period through the Bar-Kokhba Revolt, focusing on Hasmonean coins. Amit describes a collection of bread stamps and oil seals in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin, while Klein and Mamalya detail two Byzantine Period Nabatean Christian burial sites and their epitaphs.