In this work the reader is introduced into the fascinating world of Jewish funerary epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman period. The information that can be gleaned about Jewish life and thought from more than 1000 tomb-inscriptions is presented here in a systematic way. Aspects covered include languages, forms, motifs, values, epithets, functions and professions, age at death, views on death and afterlife, and the role of women. Of special interest is a chapter dealing with the relevance of these epitaphs for the study of early Christianity. The monograph ends with a selection of inscriptions in their original language with translation and notes as well as an extensive bibliography, which is updated in this 2nd printing.

In Saxa judaica loquuntur (‘Jewish stones speak out’), Pieter W. van der Horst informs the reader about the recent boom in the study of ancient Jewish epigraphy and he demonstrates what kinds of new information this development yields. After sketching the status quaestionis, this book exemplifies the relevance of early Jewish inscriptions by means of a study of Judaism in Asia Minor on the basis of epigraphic material. It also highlights several areas of research for which this material provides us with insights that the Jewish literary sources do not grant us. Furthermore, the book contains a selection of some 50 inscriptions, in both their original languages and English translation with explanatory notes.

This collection of essays deals with the rise and development of early Christian poetry, discussing its techniques and its theoretical foundation. The individual papers concern specimina of Hebrew, Syriac, Greek and Latin poetry and study the various and partly conflicting traditions from which it originated. The biblical examples, e.g. of the Psalms, held great authority, but on the other hand it was impossible to break away from the models of classical Greco-Roman poetry, although these were deemed dangerous because of the pagan content and excessive cult of literary art. The book shows how the problems involved were solved in different ways, which justified the use of pagan literary accomplishments for singing the praises of the Lord.

Joseph S. Park examines the various indications of belief in or denial of afterlife in the Jewish funerary inscriptions found throughout the Mediterranean world, mostly during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. He reveals a wide variety of conceptions of and attitudes toward death and afterlife. Besides such well-known ideas as resurrection and the peaceful state of the deceased prior to it, there also seem to be indications of a denial of meaningful afterlife, often associated with a generally Sadducean alignment on the part of the deceased.These findings are then compared with corresponding indications in the Pauline epistles. The comparison shows, after taking into account the basic difference in purpose between the two types of evidence, a substantial agreement, and moreover seems to shed light on some aspects of the interpretation of Paul. For example, the indications of a denial of afterlife in the inscriptions points to the possibility of a similar background for those who are said in 1 Corinthians 15 to deny the resurrection. In addition to providing new insights in both areas in reference to afterlife beliefs, this comparison also sheds some light on the larger methodological issues affecting both bodies of evidence. In addition to specific implications such as this, Joseph S. Park demonstrates that both the Jewish inscriptions and Paul are best interpreted in reference to a background of ideas which is neither strictly Jewish nor pagan, but the result of free interaction between the two. This conclusion has obvious implications for the wider questions of Judaism and hellenization.

Over the past 45 years Professor Pieter W. van der Horst contributed extensively to the study of ancient Judaism and early Christianity. The 24 papers in this volume, written since his early retirement in 2006, cover a wide range of topics, all of them concerning the religious world of Judaism and Christianity in the Hellenistic, Roman, and early Byzantine era. They reflect his research interests in Jewish epigraphy, Jewish interpretation of the Bible, Jewish prayer culture, the diaspora in Asia Minor, exegetical problems in the writings of Philo and Josephus, Samaritan history, texts from ancient Christianity which have received little attention (the poems of Cyrus of Panopolis, the Doctrina Jacobi nuper baptizati, the Letter of Mara bar Sarapion), and miscellanea such as the pagan myth of Jewish cannibalism, the meaning of the Greek expression ‘without God,’ the religious significance of sneezing in pagan antiquity, and the variety of stories about pious long-sleepers in the ancient world (pagan, Jewish, Christian).

This book collects all known Jewish inscriptions in Egypt between the third century BC and the sixth century AD. The entry on each inscription provides text, translation, bibliography and commentary. Hitherto, it has been necessary to refer to an older collection (1952, but essentially pre-war) together with a separately published revision (1964), with very limited indexing. Here the aim has been to include inscriptions not in the earlier collection, to bring together the necessary information on each inscription, and to supply full indexing. The inscriptions form a vivid primary source for Jewish history and religion.

This volume contains the papers of a workshop on Jewish epigraphy in antiquity organized at Utrecht University in 1992. Among the participants were collaborators of the Cambridge Jewish Inscriptions Project and of the Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients project. Important aspects of ancient Jewish inscriptions are highlighted in the papers, like the connection between documentary and literary texts. Several papers focus on aspects of the history of Jewish communities in the diaspora. Specialists in Jewish epigraphy will find surveys of parts of the corpus of Jewish inscriptions (curse inscriptions, metrical epitaphs, alphabet-inscriptions) and discussions of some fixed opinions, and Jewish inscriptions are discussed in a wider literary and historical contexts as well.