Language and Literacy in Roman Judaea: A Study of the Bar Kokhba Documents

542 Pages·2015·5.1 MB·English

by  Michael Owen Wise

Language and Literacy in Roman Judaea
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The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library

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The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library
Language and
Literacy in
Roman Judaea
A Study of the Bar Kokhba Documents
Michael Owen Wise
New Haven
and
AYBRL London
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“Anchor Yale Bible” and the Anchor Yale logo are registered trademarks of
Yale University.
Copyright © 2015 by Yale University. All rights reserved. This book may not
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wise, Michael Owen, 1954–
Language and literacy in Roman Judaea : a study of the Bar Kokhba
documents / Michael Owen Wise.—1st edition.
pages cm.—(The Anchor Yale Bible reference library)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-20453-7 (alk. paper)
1. Literacy—Palestine—History. 2. Language and culture—Palestine.
3. Jews—Palestine—Intellectual life. 4. Judaea, Wilderness of—
Antiquities. 5. Bar Kokhba, –135. I. Title.
LC157.P35W57 2015 302.2'244095694—dc23 2014037410
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (Permanence of
Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Dedicated to James Alan Wise†
Little brother, best friend
Accept for now these things, final gifts of an ancient custom given,
sad of duty and wet with a brother’s tears.
—Catullus
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations, xiii
1. Status Quaestionum and the Present Study, 1
2. Jerusalem, Herodium, Jericho, and Environs, 62
3. En Gedi, Mahoza, and Kephar-Baru, 135
4. Epistolary Culture in Roman Judaea, 206
5. Language and Literacy in Roman Judaea, 279
Appendix A: Significant Documents of the Bar Kokhba
Discoveries: Signatories and Writers, 357
Appendix B: Signatories and Writers Listed by Name, 373
Notes, 393
Index of Subjects, 501
Index of Modern Authors, 507
Index of Ancient Sources, 515
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Acknowledgments
When I first began graduate study of the ancient Near East at the Uni-
versity of Chicago years ago, wonderful as that opportunity proved, it also
meant closing the door to the classics and especially to Greek literature, my
first academic love. This was a love born of such as James Allen’s First Year
of Greek, of Plato and Herodotus and Candaules, the man who fell in love
with his own wife. I always hoped that one day it would become possible
to go back and push that door open again. Some years ago the opportunity
did present itself, and I entered a second doctoral program, this time at the
University of Minnesota.
There I found a place of academic rigor combined with nurture and
unquestionable goodwill directed toward the students. I was taught well by
able and distinguished faculty who had invested their lives studying Greek
and Latin literature and attendant fields. I found with them and with my
fellow students what I sought: not merely the text, but fellowship around
the text. It is a pleasure to record my deep gratitude to the department and
especially to Doug Olson, Betty Belfiore, Chris Nappa, Phil Sellew, and Nita
Krevans, and most particularly to George Sheets, my principal instructor.
George taught me much about classical philology and Latin literature and
became a good friend as well as my dissertation advisor. The present book
grew out of that dissertation and so owes much to George and his mind,
which grinds very fine indeed.
Others at my own institution, the University of Northwestern–St. Paul,
aided and encouraged this project. Boyd Seevers displayed an unflagging
interest in the matters under discussion and offered helpful ideas regarding
the geography of the Bar Kokhba finds based on his intimate familiarity with
the land in which he lived long himself. Walter Schultz read portions of the
manuscript and discussed them with me after passing the pages beneath his
philosopher’s flaw-magnifying logic. Our statistician Jonathan Zderad read
and critiqued the first and final chapters and generously offered his expertise
ix
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