Saturday, February 19, 2005

INSCRIPTIONES JUDAICAE ORIENTIS, vol. 3, Syria and Cyprus is reviewed by Daniel Stoekl Ben Ezra in Bryn Mawr Classical Review. This is a very useful critical review that recognizes and praises the remarkable achievement of the volume while pointing to weaknesses and making constructive suggestions for improvements in future editions and perhaps computerized and online supplements. The problem of identifying Jewish inscriptions is a difficult one, and I tend to take a more skeptical line than most. As the reviewer observes, the selection process itself is bound to distort the evidence in some way, whether by excluding undetectable Jewish inscriptions or including apparently Jewish ones that actually aren't. Each item in such collections needs to be weighed carefully on a case by case basis. But it is extremely useful to have all this information collected in this volume and the series as a whole.

(Via the Philo of Alexandria blog.)

No comments:

Post a Comment