Ostia Antica, Archaeology, Synagogue, Mithraism by L M White
La Sinagoga di Ostia Antica: 60 Anni dalla Scoperto, ed. A. D’Alessio e A. Zevi (Ostia/Roma: Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica, 2023), 2023
Beginning in 2001-02, a team from The University of Texas has conducted a thorough reexamination ... more Beginning in 2001-02, a team from The University of Texas has conducted a thorough reexamination of the Synagogue complex with six seasons of new excavation and ten seasons of study in the laboratory and archives. This presentation will proceed in four main sections: (a) an overview of the UT•OSMAP Project and its analysis of previously excavated materials; (b) a presentation of the new archaeological evidence regarding site development; (c) a summary of the new Chronology and Phasing of the complex; and (d) a reconstruction of key architectural features in its use as a Synagogue.
Ars Judaica: The Bar Ilan Journal of Jewish Art, 2022
The ancient Jewish synagogue of Ostia (Italy) was first discovered in 1961 and excavated hastily ... more The ancient Jewish synagogue of Ostia (Italy) was first discovered in 1961 and excavated hastily over the next few years (1961-1964). While the discovery prompted considerable attention, full excavation and reports were not completed. Since 2001, the Ostia Synagogue Masonry, Mapping and Archaeology Project (OSMAP), directed by Professor L. Michael White of the University of Texas under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Soprintendenza of Ostia (now Parco Archeologico di Ostia Antica), has conducted six full seasons of new excavations and ten full seasons of laboratory study and analysis of the material remains, including several thousand "rediscovered" objects from the 1960s excavations. The results are now being published, and the picture that we get of this complex and its community is nothing short of spectacular. This article summarizes two sets of key findings that have emerged from our archival research and new excavations: we begin with a thoroughly revised chronology and phasing of the synagogue complex. The bulk of the article then focuses on our new findings regarding the architectural form and decoration of the Torah shrine in its Final Phase (after ca. 465 CE). Given its late date and monumental scale, the architectural design and ornate decoration of the Torah shrine represents a truly remarkable accomplishment by the Jewish community of Ostia.
Contested Spaces: Houses and Temples in Roman Antiquity, ed. by D.L. Balch and A. Weissenrieder (WUNT; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011), 401-454, 2013
Religion and Social History, Diaspora Judaism by L M White
Rome and Religion: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on the Imperial Cult, ed. by J. Brodd and J.L. Reed (Atlanta: SBL, 2011), 2011
In the bulk of this paper I will focus on several Jewish inscriptions that seem to me to be refle... more In the bulk of this paper I will focus on several Jewish inscriptions that seem to me to be reflecting the active negotiation process — and generally in congenial terms — for Jews living in Roman and Greco-Roman cities. The difficulty, of course, is that with highly rhetorical literary texts it is easy to read ideas into them, whether as “hidden transcripts” or otherwise. That is not to say that inscriptions are lacking in their own, highly cultivated rhetoric. Rather, it means that we will have to take account of the rules of that rhetoric in its own, scripted social arenas, and specifically where the language, formulas, and epigraphic conventions place these Jewish “texts” in an openly Roman conversation, usefully characterized by Ramsay MacMullen as “the epigraphic habit.” They thus represent some degree of negotiation within their social and cultural context.
Urban Religion in Roman Corinth: Archeological & Historical Studies, edited by D. Showalter, and S. Friesen (Harvard Theological Studies; Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2005). 61-110., 2005
An ancient traveler come to Corinth, and the record of what he saw. We wish we had records from o... more An ancient traveler come to Corinth, and the record of what he saw. We wish we had records from others besides Pausanias and Paul-the two most frequently mentioned ancient travelers to Corinth-since neither of them has left an unproblematic account. Charles Williams and others have amply demonstrated so in regard to Pausanias's descriptions of various parts of the city. 1 Still, he is a valuable source. Paul is another matter, precisely because he himself says so little about the actual city. By contrast, the account that does mention specifi c monuments-namely, the portrayal of Paul's visit in Acts 18 (written roughly forty years or more after the fact)-is beset by numerous historical diffi culties. 2 Nonetheless, the possibility of evaluating
Ephesos Metropolis of Asia: An Interdisciplinary Approach to its Archaeology, Religion, and Culture. Edited by H. Koester. Harvard Theological Studies 41. Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1995, 27-79., 1995
Pergamon, Citadel of the Gods: Archaeological and Historical Studies, ed. by H. Koester (Harvard Theological Studies; Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1998) 331-371., 1998
Ancient Epistolography & Moral Philosophy by L M White
Early Christianity and Classical Culture, 2003
This section of the book Early Christianity and Classical Culture: Comparative Studies in Honor o... more This section of the book Early Christianity and Classical Culture: Comparative Studies in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe contains a list of reference books and selected articles relevant to the discussion of comparative studies in the history of New Testament scholarship. The book contains essays that are grouped around five Greek terms that reflect key arenas of the cultural interaction of ancient Jews and Christians with their Graeco-Roman neighbors: respectively, Graphos ( semantics and writing); Ethos (ethics and moral characterization); Logos (rhetoric and literary expression); Ethnos (self-definition and acculturation); and Nomos (law and normative values). It focuses on the use of Classical and Jewish "parallels" in the history of New Testament scholarship. Keywords: Abraham J. Malherbe; ancient Jews; early Christianity; Graeco-Roman neighbors; New Testament
Early Christianity 6.2, 2015
Long recognized as a literary fiction, the Epistle of Aristeas has variously been dated from the ... more Long recognized as a literary fiction, the Epistle of Aristeas has variously been dated from the 3rd cent. BCE to the 1st cent. CE. As a result, its epistolary features, and especially those in which the putative author, Aristeas, addresses his brother and correspondent, Philocrates, have largely been ignored. At the same time, the ostensible occasion of the work, an account of the translation of the Jewish scriptures into Greek at the behest of Ptolemy II and Diogenes of Phalerum, has been treated as its sole import, even though the story of the translation itself is only a small part of the text. In light of more recent scholarship on epistolary literature in the Greco-Roman world, however, this paper will argue that, though fictional, a highly stylized epistolarity is central to the form, purpose, and setting of the work. It will argue further that the ideals of Hellenistic moral philosophy, delivered through epistolary exhortation as well as sympotic discourse, function as an apologetic for both Jewish tradition and the Septuagint translation as instantiations of the Mosaic Law.
Cronache Ercolanesi 39 (2009) 29-70, 2009
CRONACHE ERCOLANESI bollettino del centro internazionale per lo studio dei papiri ercolanesi fond... more CRONACHE ERCOLANESI bollettino del centro internazionale per lo studio dei papiri ercolanesi fondato da Marcello Gigante
Philodemus and the New Testament World, edited by J.T. Fitzgerald, D. Obbink, and G. Holland. Supplements to Novum Testamentum. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2003., 2003
'The One Who Sows Bountifully': Essays in Honor of Stanley K. Stowers, edited by Caroline Johnson Hodge, Saul M. Olyan, Daniel Ullucci and Emma Wasserman (BJS; Providence: Brown Judaic Studies, 2013), 2013
Galen's "lost letter" on the Avoidance of Grief (Peri alupias) now provides new insight on the ph... more Galen's "lost letter" on the Avoidance of Grief (Peri alupias) now provides new insight on the phenomenon of friendly letters with personal moral exhortation as a genre of ancient epistolography.
Galen’s De Indolentia: Selected Essays, ed. by C. Rothschild and T. Thompson (WUNT: Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014, 221-249., 2014
Pauline Studies in Social Context by L M White
Early Christianity and Classical Culture, 2003
The question of "parallels" to the language and formulations of the New Testament and o... more The question of "parallels" to the language and formulations of the New Testament and other early Christian literature has been a key scholarly issue since the seventeenth century, when a number of linguistic and comparative studies began to appear. These works, largely the product of a new philologically oriented approach to early Christian literature, continued to proliferate during the eighteenth century and included several limited or specialized collections of parallels based on some individual authors like Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Josephus, and Philo. Best known among these was that of Johann Jacob Wettstein. Wettstein's collection originated out of the burgeoning work of the period on textual criticism. In order to understand fully how a Paul might have appropriated these semantic and social conventions, one must continue to examine closely the parallels in their contexts. Keywords: Christian; Diodorus Siculus; Jew; Johann Jacob Wettstein; Josephus; Paul; Philo; Polybius
Early Christianity and Classical Culture: Comparative Studies in Honor of Abraham J. Malherbe, edited by J.T. Fitzgerald, T.H. Olbricht, and L.M. White. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 110; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2003, 307-349, 2003
Paul and the Greco-Roman World: A Handbook, ed. by J. Paul Sampley (2nd rev. ed.; 2 vols.; Edinburgh: Bloomsbury Press, 2016), vol. 2:171-203., 2016
A fully revised and expaned version of my earlier article on the concept of the pater familias in... more A fully revised and expaned version of my earlier article on the concept of the pater familias in the letters of Paul, with some special case studies.
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Ostia Antica, Archaeology, Synagogue, Mithraism by L M White
Religion and Social History, Diaspora Judaism by L M White
Ancient Epistolography & Moral Philosophy by L M White
Pauline Studies in Social Context by L M White