The PhotoHistorian: The Journal of the Royal Photographic Society Historical Group, 2024
In a recent paper investigating an unsigned early view of Port Said, originally published by the ... more In a recent paper investigating an unsigned early view of Port Said, originally published by the Francis Frith Co., we identified the photographer as being Frank Mason Good (1839-1928). By succeeding in dating independently this view to early 1872, we have shown that it belongs to a set of photographs from the Suez Canal taken during Good’s ‘third’ journey of 1871/1872. Good travelled several times to the Near East, and the dates of his journeys were intrinsically worked out by Bertrand Lazard some thirty years ago. Lazard’s pioneering research concluded upon four journeys: the first in 1866/1867; the second in 1868/1869; the third in 1871/72; and the fourth in 1875. We wish to re-examine here the photographs attributed to these journeys, and particularly those of the so-called ‘third’ journey. We believe (as we have already hinted at in our previous paper) that some of them (twenty-two in Frith’s catalogue) actually belong to another, so far undetected, journey, which took place between Lazard’s ‘second’ and ‘third’ in late 1869. We therefore propose that Good made five professional journeys – part of Lazard’s ‘third’ is to become fourth, and his ‘fourth’ is to become fifth in our revision. Other undetected journeys, preceding all five, one to the Near East in 1862, will not be counted here as such (avoiding further complication), since Good was then only a young man and no surviving photographs can be attributed to them.
SCRIPTA CLASSICA ISRAELICA, YEARBOOK OF THE ISRAEL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF CLASSICAL STUDIES, 2024
An unpublished paper entitled ‘Strabo on the Herodian Dynasty’ from Sir
Ronald Syme’s archive, no... more An unpublished paper entitled ‘Strabo on the Herodian Dynasty’ from Sir Ronald Syme’s archive, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, is here for the time transcribed (being handwritten), annotated (lacking notes), and reviewed. It belongs to Syme’s incomplete Anatolica project of some 600 pages, written during his years at Istanbul in the mid-1940s, and edited posthumously into a book of twenty-eight chapters by Anthony Birley. While Syme frequently judges that Strabo’s view of Judaea, the Hasmonaeans, and the Herods, was the result of negligence, error, and confusion— whereas compression with nuances of abstract thought would be more appropriate—he is admirably perceptive in recognising important points. Syme adopts the mandatory emendation of Adamantios Korais, restoring the name of Hyrcanus II (in place of a ‘Herod’) as the high priest appointed by Pompeius. He senses that in connection to the impossible priesthood for Herod, Strabo may have unconsciously contaminated different views about Herod’s ancestry. He concedes that Josephus’ silence is not decisive when Strabo is testifying on the precarious positions of the two tetrarchs (Antipas and Philip), in 6 CE. With caution, Syme calls this ‘a new historical fact’. His brilliant mind shines throughout. There is nothing that Syme could have written during his lifetime, which would not still be of interest.
Inscriptions from the Byzantine period in southern Jordan include a corpus of mainly funerary Chr... more Inscriptions from the Byzantine period in southern Jordan include a corpus of mainly funerary Christian-Greek and Jewish-Aramaic texts discovered in recent years in the Ghor as-Safi area. Containing more than 456 epitaphs from the An-Naq' cemetery of Zoara (Early Byzantine Zoora), this extraordinary collection dating from the fourth to the seventh century AD continues to expand. Many more texts are being currently studied and forthcoming in separate publications. As part of that effort, two additional Christian-Greek inscriptions recognized as having originated from Zoara are presented here. The first - significant in filling gaps in the early Byzantine social mosaic - commemorates Faustina, a name appearing for the first time, joining eight other Latin female names, and dating last to 16 February AD 503. This date falling within Year 397 of the Era of the Province of Arabia is known only from one inscription in the corpus, but the Indiction of Year 11 mentioned is unique. Equally unique is the name of Theodotos as an ecclesiastical authority, a deacon, a presbyter, or even the city-bishop. The decoration of a large sun disk with a cross in the middle could represent the Constantinian sun god Sol Invictus converted to Christianity. The second inscription is also rare in commemorating one Bargonnas, a name probably deriving from the epithet given to Simon/Peter in Matthew's Gospel (16:17): Βαριωνᾶς.
By collecting a series of mostly unsigned and undated ‘panorama’ views of Port Said, taken broadl... more By collecting a series of mostly unsigned and undated ‘panorama’ views of Port Said, taken broadly from the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869 to well into the twentieth century, we were able to study the progress of building construction in this town. As a result we have managed to date approximately, but securely, all of them. One such view was firmly placed by us in the time slot of ‘Early 1872’. This stood out for its technical affinities, its lighting, sharpness and symmetry. We began a trail to identify its photographer by locating copies in two major institutions (J. Paul Getty Museum and Griffith Institute). It appeared that the first was following a previous opinion attributing the photograph to famous Francis Frith, since it is included in an album published by the Frith Company and assumed to date to ‘1865’. The second reckoned that the photographer may have been Antonio Beato or Wilhelm Hammerschmidt (without discounting others), since it is included in a private album which carries photographs by them and represents a journey dated to late 1871/early 1872. The first opinion set us to re-examine the context of the Frith Company’s albums, the second, which agreed with our chronology, to analyse the Suez Canal part of a Victorian journey to Egypt by one Emma Scott. The result of this trail was to identify the real photographer of the Port Said ‘panorama’ as being Frank Mason Good, and at the same time discover further relative photographs belonging to him. Our conclusion was verified by matching the specific photographs to those listed in a part of a catalogue of the Frith Company attributed to Good, examples of which exist in another major institution (Victoria and Albert Museum). A brief history of photography in the Suez Canal is provided here together with a brief biography of Good.
... Edited by Tessa Rajak, , Sarah Pearce, , James Aitken, , and Jennifer Dines. . ... in the Let... more ... Edited by Tessa Rajak, , Sarah Pearce, , James Aitken, , and Jennifer Dines. . ... in the Letter of Aristeas'), concluding that the historical circumstances which surround the birth of the Septuagint cannot be solved by a literary analysis of Aristeas; with B. Wright ('Ben Sira on Kings ...
In view of the forthcoming exhibition Nero: The Man Behind the Myth (The British Museum, 27 May 2... more In view of the forthcoming exhibition Nero: The Man Behind the Myth (The British Museum, 27 May 2021– 24 Oct 2021; https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/nero-man-behind-myth), I thought that it might be appropriate to upload a review of a book on Nero. This briefest review of 25 years ago had suggested a way ahead, which seems to correspond to the interest of the present exhibition.
Solomon and Shishak: Current Perspectives from Archaeology, Epigraphy, History and Chronography. Proceedings of the Third BICANE Colloquium held at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge 26-27 March, 2011 (BAR International Series 2732), 2015
The chronography of Josephus, as presented in his major work the Jewish Antiquities, with signifi... more The chronography of Josephus, as presented in his major work the Jewish Antiquities, with significant additions in his Against Apion, covered the entire past of his nation. The antiquity of the Jews was defended by use of Graeco-Oriental chronographical sources, beginning with Manetho. Josephus claimed that Jacob lived some 1000 years (and Moses nearly 500) before the Fall of Troy, the earliest event thought as historical by Greeks. This event he placed at c. 1120 BC, lower than Eratosthenes’ canonical 1183 BC, but within the wider Greek estimates extending from 1335 to c. 937 BC. Given Josephus’ dating of the beginning of Solomon’s reign to 1129 BC, the king had to be contemporary with Troy. This synchronism, recorded in the Tyrian Annals, is not explicitly spelt out by the Jewish historian for understandable reasons. The Annals followed a ‘low’ chronology, placing the Trojan War in the 10th century, incompatible with the ‘high’ chronology originally employed by Josephus placing it in the 12th. The problem of absolute chronology was intensified by the internal difficulties of Biblical dating, such as the Fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, the baseline for all calculations back in time, which had been set higher than reality, producing an error of 73 years. To this Josephus added various erroneous time-lengths back to Moses, including the addition of 40 years to the reign of Solomon. Such inflations in the ‘absolute’ chronology meant that significant ‘relative’ links, previously discussed in the Antiquities, had to be downplayed in Apion. This included the friendship of Solomon with the ‘Queen of Sheba’ and the identity of king ‘Shishak’ who invaded Jerusalem after Solomon’s death. Manetho placed the Fall of Troy in the reign of ‘Thouoris’, i.e. the female pharaoh Tausret. Had Josephus known the gender of Thuoris, he would have jumped to the opportunity to identify her with the Queen of Sheba, instead of the remote Nitocris. This would have provided him with the desired synchronism of Solomon with Troy from the Phoenician record. It would also have provided him with a powerful pharaoh following Thuoris, to identify with ‘Shishak’, namely ‘Rhampsinitos’ – almost certainly Ramesses III.
In my contribution to the first Nativity Conference, I suggested that Jesus was born in 12 B.C. S... more In my contribution to the first Nativity Conference, I suggested that Jesus was born in 12 B.C. Since I arrived at this year by reckoning back from the year of the crucifixion (which according to my theory was A.D. 36), primary attention was there paid to the evidence concerning the end ofJesus' life. Limited space was devoted to the standard arguments surrounding Jesus' birth. This inevitably meant that my position on some familiar conundrums, bypassed by my conclusion, was left unclear. An obvious question was almost immediately put to me by Professor Jack Finegan (to whom the papers of the conference were deservedly dedicated): "What would you make of the Titulus Tiburtinus?" On this difficult inscription, I have offered my view in two lengthy articles. It has nothing to do with P. Sulpicius Quirinius (cos. 12 B.C.), and thus it is irrelevant to Luke and the nativity. The lost name of the Augustan consular mentioned in this cursus honorum was in all probability C. Sentius Saturninus (cos. 19 B.C.). Another well-known conundrum is the reference of Tertullian to a Judaean census, evidently at the time of Jesus' birth, which, by coincidental agreement with my identification of the ignotus in the Titulus Tiburtinus, he attributes to "Sentius Saturninus". It is this piece of evidence that I shall be discussing here, in an attempt to show that if taken seriously, an understanding of it would be relevant (perhaps important) to my dating.
First time in electronic version. Based on a paper read in 1983 (reflecting my research of the l... more First time in electronic version. Based on a paper read in 1983 (reflecting my research of the late 1970s) and published in 1989, it is still in demand, judging from the considerable number of enquiries. It argues that a slightly later date for the crucifixion of Jesus, not only places the event in its natural historical background, but also suggests a slightly earlier date for his birth. While some revision of some issues would now be necessary, the central theory still stands. A much discussed paper in the intervening years, it appeared in the celebrated festschrift for Jack Finegan, since then a handbook of New Testament chronology.
Strata: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, vol. 36, 2018
Review-article of Steve Mason's book: A History of the Jewish War, A.D. 66-74 (Cambridge and New ... more Review-article of Steve Mason's book: A History of the Jewish War, A.D. 66-74 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
An appendix to my book on the Herods dealt with the complex subject of the date of Agrippa II’s d... more An appendix to my book on the Herods dealt with the complex subject of the date of Agrippa II’s death. A double critique of my view by Christopher Jones and Alla Kushnir-Stein has appeared in this journal. Jones claims to be making a contribution by means of ‘Greek philology and Roman imperial prosopography’, tools presumably ‘insufficiently exploited’, and declares that while the revised edition of Schürer is out of date, my discussion is ‘questionable on many points’. So it is necessary to restate my case here. Had the numismatic model proposed by Kushnir-Stein been right, it would simply have made one aspect of my previous discussion, like that of Schürer (and of all numismatists involved), out of date — nothing more. But the model is not right as it stands, and in any case it does not affect my chronology.
A previous paper on the titulus Tiburtinus re-opened the debate concerning the noto- rious ignotu... more A previous paper on the titulus Tiburtinus re-opened the debate concerning the noto- rious ignotus, then generally thought to be P. Sulpicius Quirinius (cos. 12 BC), suggesting in- stead that he might be identified with C. Sentius Saturninus (cos. 19 BC). This suggestion was subsequently challenged in favour of L. Calpurnius Piso (cos. 15 BC), who had originally been argued by Sir Ronald Syme. Since the identification of the consular concerned is significant for Augustan prosopography and for the history of Asia, among other provinces such as Syria and Germany, a detailed and wide-ranging restatement of the case for Saturninus is made here. Piso (unlike Quirinius) is really a non-starter, and it is surprising that he would have been supported by formidable Syme. The rex of the titulus could not have been Rhescuporis I or Rhoemetalces I. The iterum would not have referred to the second legateship of Piso (presumably that of Syria) given Piso’s early career.The binas, referring to two public thanksgivings, does not inspire con-fidence in Piso receiving a second supplicatio. Piso the Pontifex is not attested as proconsul of Asia, nor is he attested as governor of Syria, and the reconstruction of the fasti of this province is much more reasonable than previously thought. By contrast, all points in Saturninus career can be successfully compared with the information in the titulus. Origins of the Sentii from an area near Tibur is a bonus, if dispensable. Saturninus could not have been proconsul of Africa at the time in-ferred from Tertullian (29 BC), and hence Asia is open for him in c. 14/13 BC. His office in Syria (c. 12–8 BC) is well-attested, as it is that in Germany (c. AD 3–6). He was awarded ornamenta triumphalia in the company of Tiberius, after ‘two’ victories and no doubt supplicationes binas. Finally, a flexible understanding of the word iterum can accommodate also the meanings ‘for another time’ and ‘twice’, either of which can work with the career of Saturninus. As for deprived Quirinius, among various problems, no two thanksgivings can be conceived for a war such as that of the Homonadenses, and, most condemningly, a reference to his important office under Gaius will never have been omitted in the titulus.
The value of the ‘Tyrian Annals’, the fragments of which are preserved primarily in Josephus, has... more The value of the ‘Tyrian Annals’, the fragments of which are preserved primarily in Josephus, has often been doubted. However, an examination of literary evidence from Thales of Miletus to Timaeus of Tauromenium shows that the Greeks were well aware of Phoenician ancient records. One Hieronymus, in the 3rd century BC, followed by Menander of Ephesus, in the 2nd century BC, officially translated the ‘Tyrian Annals’ into Greek. The core of the original archive was a king-list (stating names, ages and reign lengths), covering the 10th to 6th centuries BC, annotated with brief historical notices relating the major acts performed by the kings. The list will have been composed working from local archives in the early Persian period. Surviving fragments concern three ‘floating’ segments which can be pegged in time and augmented by Assyrian and Babylonian synchronisms. The first begins with Hiram I, from 955/4 BC, with the third ending with Hiram III in 533/2 BC. The use of the ‘Tyrian Annals’ by Timaeus explains his extraordinary knowledge in providing a late 9th century date for the founding of Carthage (against the then current opinion placing it centuries earlier), close to the historical date of 808/7 BC that can now be calculated from the Annals. Timaeus’ bold move changed the entire perspective of ancient Greek chronography, radically shifting the focus from a vague heroic past into a decidedly realistic historical context. His move took the foundation of Rome along, with serious repercussions for the way the origins of this city had previously been perceived. The ‘Tyrian Annals’ also had included the date for the fall of Troy, firmly placed in the 10th century BC. Many Greek chronographers found this difficult to swallow in their political desire to claim a higher antiquity for their own cultural past.
The PhotoHistorian: The Journal of the Royal Photographic Society Historical Group, 2024
In a recent paper investigating an unsigned early view of Port Said, originally published by the ... more In a recent paper investigating an unsigned early view of Port Said, originally published by the Francis Frith Co., we identified the photographer as being Frank Mason Good (1839-1928). By succeeding in dating independently this view to early 1872, we have shown that it belongs to a set of photographs from the Suez Canal taken during Good’s ‘third’ journey of 1871/1872. Good travelled several times to the Near East, and the dates of his journeys were intrinsically worked out by Bertrand Lazard some thirty years ago. Lazard’s pioneering research concluded upon four journeys: the first in 1866/1867; the second in 1868/1869; the third in 1871/72; and the fourth in 1875. We wish to re-examine here the photographs attributed to these journeys, and particularly those of the so-called ‘third’ journey. We believe (as we have already hinted at in our previous paper) that some of them (twenty-two in Frith’s catalogue) actually belong to another, so far undetected, journey, which took place between Lazard’s ‘second’ and ‘third’ in late 1869. We therefore propose that Good made five professional journeys – part of Lazard’s ‘third’ is to become fourth, and his ‘fourth’ is to become fifth in our revision. Other undetected journeys, preceding all five, one to the Near East in 1862, will not be counted here as such (avoiding further complication), since Good was then only a young man and no surviving photographs can be attributed to them.
SCRIPTA CLASSICA ISRAELICA, YEARBOOK OF THE ISRAEL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF CLASSICAL STUDIES, 2024
An unpublished paper entitled ‘Strabo on the Herodian Dynasty’ from Sir
Ronald Syme’s archive, no... more An unpublished paper entitled ‘Strabo on the Herodian Dynasty’ from Sir Ronald Syme’s archive, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, is here for the time transcribed (being handwritten), annotated (lacking notes), and reviewed. It belongs to Syme’s incomplete Anatolica project of some 600 pages, written during his years at Istanbul in the mid-1940s, and edited posthumously into a book of twenty-eight chapters by Anthony Birley. While Syme frequently judges that Strabo’s view of Judaea, the Hasmonaeans, and the Herods, was the result of negligence, error, and confusion— whereas compression with nuances of abstract thought would be more appropriate—he is admirably perceptive in recognising important points. Syme adopts the mandatory emendation of Adamantios Korais, restoring the name of Hyrcanus II (in place of a ‘Herod’) as the high priest appointed by Pompeius. He senses that in connection to the impossible priesthood for Herod, Strabo may have unconsciously contaminated different views about Herod’s ancestry. He concedes that Josephus’ silence is not decisive when Strabo is testifying on the precarious positions of the two tetrarchs (Antipas and Philip), in 6 CE. With caution, Syme calls this ‘a new historical fact’. His brilliant mind shines throughout. There is nothing that Syme could have written during his lifetime, which would not still be of interest.
Inscriptions from the Byzantine period in southern Jordan include a corpus of mainly funerary Chr... more Inscriptions from the Byzantine period in southern Jordan include a corpus of mainly funerary Christian-Greek and Jewish-Aramaic texts discovered in recent years in the Ghor as-Safi area. Containing more than 456 epitaphs from the An-Naq' cemetery of Zoara (Early Byzantine Zoora), this extraordinary collection dating from the fourth to the seventh century AD continues to expand. Many more texts are being currently studied and forthcoming in separate publications. As part of that effort, two additional Christian-Greek inscriptions recognized as having originated from Zoara are presented here. The first - significant in filling gaps in the early Byzantine social mosaic - commemorates Faustina, a name appearing for the first time, joining eight other Latin female names, and dating last to 16 February AD 503. This date falling within Year 397 of the Era of the Province of Arabia is known only from one inscription in the corpus, but the Indiction of Year 11 mentioned is unique. Equally unique is the name of Theodotos as an ecclesiastical authority, a deacon, a presbyter, or even the city-bishop. The decoration of a large sun disk with a cross in the middle could represent the Constantinian sun god Sol Invictus converted to Christianity. The second inscription is also rare in commemorating one Bargonnas, a name probably deriving from the epithet given to Simon/Peter in Matthew's Gospel (16:17): Βαριωνᾶς.
By collecting a series of mostly unsigned and undated ‘panorama’ views of Port Said, taken broadl... more By collecting a series of mostly unsigned and undated ‘panorama’ views of Port Said, taken broadly from the inauguration of the Suez Canal in 1869 to well into the twentieth century, we were able to study the progress of building construction in this town. As a result we have managed to date approximately, but securely, all of them. One such view was firmly placed by us in the time slot of ‘Early 1872’. This stood out for its technical affinities, its lighting, sharpness and symmetry. We began a trail to identify its photographer by locating copies in two major institutions (J. Paul Getty Museum and Griffith Institute). It appeared that the first was following a previous opinion attributing the photograph to famous Francis Frith, since it is included in an album published by the Frith Company and assumed to date to ‘1865’. The second reckoned that the photographer may have been Antonio Beato or Wilhelm Hammerschmidt (without discounting others), since it is included in a private album which carries photographs by them and represents a journey dated to late 1871/early 1872. The first opinion set us to re-examine the context of the Frith Company’s albums, the second, which agreed with our chronology, to analyse the Suez Canal part of a Victorian journey to Egypt by one Emma Scott. The result of this trail was to identify the real photographer of the Port Said ‘panorama’ as being Frank Mason Good, and at the same time discover further relative photographs belonging to him. Our conclusion was verified by matching the specific photographs to those listed in a part of a catalogue of the Frith Company attributed to Good, examples of which exist in another major institution (Victoria and Albert Museum). A brief history of photography in the Suez Canal is provided here together with a brief biography of Good.
... Edited by Tessa Rajak, , Sarah Pearce, , James Aitken, , and Jennifer Dines. . ... in the Let... more ... Edited by Tessa Rajak, , Sarah Pearce, , James Aitken, , and Jennifer Dines. . ... in the Letter of Aristeas'), concluding that the historical circumstances which surround the birth of the Septuagint cannot be solved by a literary analysis of Aristeas; with B. Wright ('Ben Sira on Kings ...
In view of the forthcoming exhibition Nero: The Man Behind the Myth (The British Museum, 27 May 2... more In view of the forthcoming exhibition Nero: The Man Behind the Myth (The British Museum, 27 May 2021– 24 Oct 2021; https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/nero-man-behind-myth), I thought that it might be appropriate to upload a review of a book on Nero. This briefest review of 25 years ago had suggested a way ahead, which seems to correspond to the interest of the present exhibition.
Solomon and Shishak: Current Perspectives from Archaeology, Epigraphy, History and Chronography. Proceedings of the Third BICANE Colloquium held at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge 26-27 March, 2011 (BAR International Series 2732), 2015
The chronography of Josephus, as presented in his major work the Jewish Antiquities, with signifi... more The chronography of Josephus, as presented in his major work the Jewish Antiquities, with significant additions in his Against Apion, covered the entire past of his nation. The antiquity of the Jews was defended by use of Graeco-Oriental chronographical sources, beginning with Manetho. Josephus claimed that Jacob lived some 1000 years (and Moses nearly 500) before the Fall of Troy, the earliest event thought as historical by Greeks. This event he placed at c. 1120 BC, lower than Eratosthenes’ canonical 1183 BC, but within the wider Greek estimates extending from 1335 to c. 937 BC. Given Josephus’ dating of the beginning of Solomon’s reign to 1129 BC, the king had to be contemporary with Troy. This synchronism, recorded in the Tyrian Annals, is not explicitly spelt out by the Jewish historian for understandable reasons. The Annals followed a ‘low’ chronology, placing the Trojan War in the 10th century, incompatible with the ‘high’ chronology originally employed by Josephus placing it in the 12th. The problem of absolute chronology was intensified by the internal difficulties of Biblical dating, such as the Fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, the baseline for all calculations back in time, which had been set higher than reality, producing an error of 73 years. To this Josephus added various erroneous time-lengths back to Moses, including the addition of 40 years to the reign of Solomon. Such inflations in the ‘absolute’ chronology meant that significant ‘relative’ links, previously discussed in the Antiquities, had to be downplayed in Apion. This included the friendship of Solomon with the ‘Queen of Sheba’ and the identity of king ‘Shishak’ who invaded Jerusalem after Solomon’s death. Manetho placed the Fall of Troy in the reign of ‘Thouoris’, i.e. the female pharaoh Tausret. Had Josephus known the gender of Thuoris, he would have jumped to the opportunity to identify her with the Queen of Sheba, instead of the remote Nitocris. This would have provided him with the desired synchronism of Solomon with Troy from the Phoenician record. It would also have provided him with a powerful pharaoh following Thuoris, to identify with ‘Shishak’, namely ‘Rhampsinitos’ – almost certainly Ramesses III.
In my contribution to the first Nativity Conference, I suggested that Jesus was born in 12 B.C. S... more In my contribution to the first Nativity Conference, I suggested that Jesus was born in 12 B.C. Since I arrived at this year by reckoning back from the year of the crucifixion (which according to my theory was A.D. 36), primary attention was there paid to the evidence concerning the end ofJesus' life. Limited space was devoted to the standard arguments surrounding Jesus' birth. This inevitably meant that my position on some familiar conundrums, bypassed by my conclusion, was left unclear. An obvious question was almost immediately put to me by Professor Jack Finegan (to whom the papers of the conference were deservedly dedicated): "What would you make of the Titulus Tiburtinus?" On this difficult inscription, I have offered my view in two lengthy articles. It has nothing to do with P. Sulpicius Quirinius (cos. 12 B.C.), and thus it is irrelevant to Luke and the nativity. The lost name of the Augustan consular mentioned in this cursus honorum was in all probability C. Sentius Saturninus (cos. 19 B.C.). Another well-known conundrum is the reference of Tertullian to a Judaean census, evidently at the time of Jesus' birth, which, by coincidental agreement with my identification of the ignotus in the Titulus Tiburtinus, he attributes to "Sentius Saturninus". It is this piece of evidence that I shall be discussing here, in an attempt to show that if taken seriously, an understanding of it would be relevant (perhaps important) to my dating.
First time in electronic version. Based on a paper read in 1983 (reflecting my research of the l... more First time in electronic version. Based on a paper read in 1983 (reflecting my research of the late 1970s) and published in 1989, it is still in demand, judging from the considerable number of enquiries. It argues that a slightly later date for the crucifixion of Jesus, not only places the event in its natural historical background, but also suggests a slightly earlier date for his birth. While some revision of some issues would now be necessary, the central theory still stands. A much discussed paper in the intervening years, it appeared in the celebrated festschrift for Jack Finegan, since then a handbook of New Testament chronology.
Strata: Bulletin of the Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society, vol. 36, 2018
Review-article of Steve Mason's book: A History of the Jewish War, A.D. 66-74 (Cambridge and New ... more Review-article of Steve Mason's book: A History of the Jewish War, A.D. 66-74 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016).
An appendix to my book on the Herods dealt with the complex subject of the date of Agrippa II’s d... more An appendix to my book on the Herods dealt with the complex subject of the date of Agrippa II’s death. A double critique of my view by Christopher Jones and Alla Kushnir-Stein has appeared in this journal. Jones claims to be making a contribution by means of ‘Greek philology and Roman imperial prosopography’, tools presumably ‘insufficiently exploited’, and declares that while the revised edition of Schürer is out of date, my discussion is ‘questionable on many points’. So it is necessary to restate my case here. Had the numismatic model proposed by Kushnir-Stein been right, it would simply have made one aspect of my previous discussion, like that of Schürer (and of all numismatists involved), out of date — nothing more. But the model is not right as it stands, and in any case it does not affect my chronology.
A previous paper on the titulus Tiburtinus re-opened the debate concerning the noto- rious ignotu... more A previous paper on the titulus Tiburtinus re-opened the debate concerning the noto- rious ignotus, then generally thought to be P. Sulpicius Quirinius (cos. 12 BC), suggesting in- stead that he might be identified with C. Sentius Saturninus (cos. 19 BC). This suggestion was subsequently challenged in favour of L. Calpurnius Piso (cos. 15 BC), who had originally been argued by Sir Ronald Syme. Since the identification of the consular concerned is significant for Augustan prosopography and for the history of Asia, among other provinces such as Syria and Germany, a detailed and wide-ranging restatement of the case for Saturninus is made here. Piso (unlike Quirinius) is really a non-starter, and it is surprising that he would have been supported by formidable Syme. The rex of the titulus could not have been Rhescuporis I or Rhoemetalces I. The iterum would not have referred to the second legateship of Piso (presumably that of Syria) given Piso’s early career.The binas, referring to two public thanksgivings, does not inspire con-fidence in Piso receiving a second supplicatio. Piso the Pontifex is not attested as proconsul of Asia, nor is he attested as governor of Syria, and the reconstruction of the fasti of this province is much more reasonable than previously thought. By contrast, all points in Saturninus career can be successfully compared with the information in the titulus. Origins of the Sentii from an area near Tibur is a bonus, if dispensable. Saturninus could not have been proconsul of Africa at the time in-ferred from Tertullian (29 BC), and hence Asia is open for him in c. 14/13 BC. His office in Syria (c. 12–8 BC) is well-attested, as it is that in Germany (c. AD 3–6). He was awarded ornamenta triumphalia in the company of Tiberius, after ‘two’ victories and no doubt supplicationes binas. Finally, a flexible understanding of the word iterum can accommodate also the meanings ‘for another time’ and ‘twice’, either of which can work with the career of Saturninus. As for deprived Quirinius, among various problems, no two thanksgivings can be conceived for a war such as that of the Homonadenses, and, most condemningly, a reference to his important office under Gaius will never have been omitted in the titulus.
The value of the ‘Tyrian Annals’, the fragments of which are preserved primarily in Josephus, has... more The value of the ‘Tyrian Annals’, the fragments of which are preserved primarily in Josephus, has often been doubted. However, an examination of literary evidence from Thales of Miletus to Timaeus of Tauromenium shows that the Greeks were well aware of Phoenician ancient records. One Hieronymus, in the 3rd century BC, followed by Menander of Ephesus, in the 2nd century BC, officially translated the ‘Tyrian Annals’ into Greek. The core of the original archive was a king-list (stating names, ages and reign lengths), covering the 10th to 6th centuries BC, annotated with brief historical notices relating the major acts performed by the kings. The list will have been composed working from local archives in the early Persian period. Surviving fragments concern three ‘floating’ segments which can be pegged in time and augmented by Assyrian and Babylonian synchronisms. The first begins with Hiram I, from 955/4 BC, with the third ending with Hiram III in 533/2 BC. The use of the ‘Tyrian Annals’ by Timaeus explains his extraordinary knowledge in providing a late 9th century date for the founding of Carthage (against the then current opinion placing it centuries earlier), close to the historical date of 808/7 BC that can now be calculated from the Annals. Timaeus’ bold move changed the entire perspective of ancient Greek chronography, radically shifting the focus from a vague heroic past into a decidedly realistic historical context. His move took the foundation of Rome along, with serious repercussions for the way the origins of this city had previously been perceived. The ‘Tyrian Annals’ also had included the date for the fall of Troy, firmly placed in the 10th century BC. Many Greek chronographers found this difficult to swallow in their political desire to claim a higher antiquity for their own cultural past.
Antonia Augusta: Portrait of a Great Roman Lady, 2002
This is the typescript of the review chapter which was published in the paperback edition of 'Ant... more This is the typescript of the review chapter which was published in the paperback edition of 'Antonia Augusta' (London: Libri, 2002, pp. 241-275), supplementing the original publication (London: Routledge 1992).
Page 1. AUGUSTA PORTRAIT OF A GREAT ROMAN LADY NIKOS KOKKINOS Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. ANTONIA AUG... more Page 1. AUGUSTA PORTRAIT OF A GREAT ROMAN LADY NIKOS KOKKINOS Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. ANTONIA AUGUSTA This is the first general book on AntoniaAugusta in any language. As the daughter of Mark Antony ...
Page 1. AUGUSTA PORTRAIT OF A GREAT ROMAN LADY NIKOS KOKKINOS Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. ANTONIA AUG... more Page 1. AUGUSTA PORTRAIT OF A GREAT ROMAN LADY NIKOS KOKKINOS Page 2. Page 3. Page 4. ANTONIA AUGUSTA This is the first general book on AntoniaAugusta in any language. As the daughter of Mark Antony ...
... David M. Jacobson and Nikos Kokkinos (eds.), Herod and Augustus: Papers Presented at the IJS ... more ... David M. Jacobson and Nikos Kokkinos (eds.), Herod and Augustus: Papers Presented at the IJS Conference, 21st–23rd June 2005 (IJS ... The contents of this volume fall into two rough categories, archaeological and historical (with two papers about Josephus, our main source ...
Short replies to the remarks of Kitchen, Kemp, Postgate, Snodgrass and the Sherratts in CAJ 1:2. ... more Short replies to the remarks of Kitchen, Kemp, Postgate, Snodgrass and the Sherratts in CAJ 1:2. Included are new arguments on a number of matters, e.g. the identification of the biblical Shishak. In the conclusion we threw down the gauntlet to our critics: "It must be clearly understood that adherents of the status quo cannot have it both ways. Cypriot and Palestinian archaeologists can no longer co-exist in a never-never land in which they 'agree' to differ about the dating of Black-on-Red by as much as two centuries. The situation is absurd. We have done our best to provide the kind of imaginative solution which Kemp, the Sherratts and others feel should be applied to the chronological problems of the Dark Ages. The onus is now on our critics to provide between them a better general strategy for resolving the abysmally muddled state of Late Bronze to Iron Age archaeology".
An invited paper written to coincide with the publication of Centuries of Darkness. Our paper was... more An invited paper written to coincide with the publication of Centuries of Darkness. Our paper was published as part of a Review Feature (pp. 227-253) together with these responses: Kenneth Kitchen: "Egyptian Chronology: Problem or Solution? (pp. 235-239); Barry Kemp: "Examining Ancient Crises" (pp. 239-244); Nicholas Postgate: "The Chronology of Assyria - An Insurmountable Obstacle" (pp. 244-246); Anthony Snodgrass: "The Aegean Angle" (pp. 246-247); Andrew and Susan Sherratt: "Urnfield Reflections" (pp. 247-250)
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Papers by Nikos Kokkinos
Ronald Syme’s archive, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, is here for the time
transcribed (being handwritten), annotated (lacking notes), and reviewed. It belongs to
Syme’s incomplete Anatolica project of some 600 pages, written during his years at
Istanbul in the mid-1940s, and edited posthumously into a book of twenty-eight chapters
by Anthony Birley. While Syme frequently judges that Strabo’s view of Judaea, the
Hasmonaeans, and the Herods, was the result of negligence, error, and confusion—
whereas compression with nuances of abstract thought would be more appropriate—he is
admirably perceptive in recognising important points. Syme adopts the mandatory
emendation of Adamantios Korais, restoring the name of Hyrcanus II (in place of a
‘Herod’) as the high priest appointed by Pompeius. He senses that in connection to the
impossible priesthood for Herod, Strabo may have unconsciously contaminated different
views about Herod’s ancestry. He concedes that Josephus’ silence is not decisive when
Strabo is testifying on the precarious positions of the two tetrarchs (Antipas and Philip),
in 6 CE. With caution, Syme calls this ‘a new historical fact’. His brilliant mind shines
throughout. There is nothing that Syme could have written during his lifetime, which
would not still be of interest.
primary attention was there paid to the evidence concerning the end ofJesus' life. Limited space was devoted to the standard arguments surrounding Jesus' birth. This inevitably meant that my position on some familiar conundrums, bypassed by my conclusion, was left unclear. An obvious question was almost immediately put to me by Professor Jack Finegan (to whom the papers of the conference were deservedly dedicated): "What would you make of the Titulus Tiburtinus?" On this difficult inscription, I have offered my view in two lengthy articles. It has nothing to do with P. Sulpicius Quirinius (cos. 12 B.C.), and thus it is irrelevant to Luke and the nativity. The lost name of the Augustan consular mentioned in this cursus honorum was in all probability C. Sentius Saturninus (cos. 19 B.C.). Another well-known conundrum is the reference of Tertullian to a Judaean census, evidently at the time of Jesus' birth, which, by coincidental agreement with my identification of the ignotus in the Titulus Tiburtinus, he attributes to
"Sentius Saturninus". It is this piece of evidence that I shall be discussing here, in an attempt to show that if taken seriously, an understanding of it would be relevant (perhaps important) to my dating.
Ronald Syme’s archive, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, is here for the time
transcribed (being handwritten), annotated (lacking notes), and reviewed. It belongs to
Syme’s incomplete Anatolica project of some 600 pages, written during his years at
Istanbul in the mid-1940s, and edited posthumously into a book of twenty-eight chapters
by Anthony Birley. While Syme frequently judges that Strabo’s view of Judaea, the
Hasmonaeans, and the Herods, was the result of negligence, error, and confusion—
whereas compression with nuances of abstract thought would be more appropriate—he is
admirably perceptive in recognising important points. Syme adopts the mandatory
emendation of Adamantios Korais, restoring the name of Hyrcanus II (in place of a
‘Herod’) as the high priest appointed by Pompeius. He senses that in connection to the
impossible priesthood for Herod, Strabo may have unconsciously contaminated different
views about Herod’s ancestry. He concedes that Josephus’ silence is not decisive when
Strabo is testifying on the precarious positions of the two tetrarchs (Antipas and Philip),
in 6 CE. With caution, Syme calls this ‘a new historical fact’. His brilliant mind shines
throughout. There is nothing that Syme could have written during his lifetime, which
would not still be of interest.
primary attention was there paid to the evidence concerning the end ofJesus' life. Limited space was devoted to the standard arguments surrounding Jesus' birth. This inevitably meant that my position on some familiar conundrums, bypassed by my conclusion, was left unclear. An obvious question was almost immediately put to me by Professor Jack Finegan (to whom the papers of the conference were deservedly dedicated): "What would you make of the Titulus Tiburtinus?" On this difficult inscription, I have offered my view in two lengthy articles. It has nothing to do with P. Sulpicius Quirinius (cos. 12 B.C.), and thus it is irrelevant to Luke and the nativity. The lost name of the Augustan consular mentioned in this cursus honorum was in all probability C. Sentius Saturninus (cos. 19 B.C.). Another well-known conundrum is the reference of Tertullian to a Judaean census, evidently at the time of Jesus' birth, which, by coincidental agreement with my identification of the ignotus in the Titulus Tiburtinus, he attributes to
"Sentius Saturninus". It is this piece of evidence that I shall be discussing here, in an attempt to show that if taken seriously, an understanding of it would be relevant (perhaps important) to my dating.