the early-Jewish colony that settled on the island of Elephantine in Upper Egypt in the sixth century BCE. They had originally arrived at the island from Palestine and built a full-fledged temple there,
https://haifa.academia.edu/gadbarnea
his book is open access free download
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEEhqRxfFck
Specifically in the realm of cultic practices, Barnea’s scholarship examines the dialogue and symbiosis of early-Zoroastrianism and Yahwism (or early Judaism). On that front, Barnea has made several important contributions—in articles as well as lectures—to the study of interpretatio iudaica in the Achaemenid period as well as the early-Zoroastrian features found in the royal inscriptions (Xerxes’ “Daiva” inscription). He has recently designed a course, entitled “Seen from the East: Judaism under the Iranian ‘Age of Empires’” which he is currently teaching simultaneously at the universities of Haifa, Israel and Oldenburg, Germany. A significant portion of Barnea’s scholarship is devoted to epigraphic work. He has recently published a previously misread ostracon from Elephantine dating to the early Achaemenid period, which is the first and only direct witness we possess of a Jewish female temple officiant-a priestess-in charge of a cultic service at the temple of Yhw. it is also the earliest Jewish curse text known to us outside the bible and the only direct extra-biblical witness we have to a Jewish ritual of any kind prior to the Greco-Roman period. In addition, it is the oldest known example of this genre of “curses against thieves” which we know were very popular later in the Greco-Roman world and the only known specimen of such a curse text that survived in Aramaic. Furthermore, it is the unique witness of this genre of curse ritual in a Jewish context, and the sole record of any ritual performed at a temple to Yahweh. Barnea’s epigraphic work also led him to restore a remarkable Qumran scroll (4Q550) which recounts a previously unknown Achaemenid court tale and is forthcoming in Brill’s DSSE series. He has recently signed an agreement with Palgrave-Macmillian to write a comprehensive book covering the history and character of the Yahwistic community at Elephantine and is co-editor with Prof. Reinhard Kratz (Gõttingen) of the forthcoming book “Yahwism under the Achaemenid empire,” which is and edited volume inspired by the international conference under the same name (in honor of the late Prof. Shaul Shaked) that Barnea organized in Dec. 2022 at the university of haifa.
Understanding Elephantine, c. 550–399 BC - The Jewish Colony at the Edge of the
Persian Empire (provisional title).
Gad Barnea
This book proposes a comprehensive historical study of the of the early-Jewish colony that
settled on the island of Elephantine in Upper Egypt in the sixth century BCE. They had
originally arrived at the island from Palestine and built a full-fledged temple there, which was dedicated to their chief ethnic deity, Yhw(h)—complete with priests, sacrifices, and an
altar—on this important and already millennia-old cultic center at the Nile’s first cataract
Artaxerxe - shards of pottery with messages written on them.
it indicates that a cultic structure,
set up according to the AZ concept of bạrzman was functioning at Syene already
at the middle of the fifth century BCE. Such a place would presumably include
the presence of Maguš-priests, 24 possibly also a fire-altar and provisions for the
sacred drink haoma and other necessities.
Maguš-priests serve as witnesses to the transaction of
Yahwists around 430 BCE. Names with Avestan elements are documented to be
in various forms of association with Yahwists across the time period. Most signifi-
cantly, the Yahwists themselves mention a “fire altar” (using the Mazdean cultic
loanword ʾtrwdn) as being associated with offerings made to Yhw in their temple.
The term haoma designates a number of interrelated concepts: a yazata-deity, a
special plant (whose identification is contested) and a sacred drink (mixed with
pomegranate, water and milk) extracted from this plant, known as soma in the
Rigveda and Indian traditions. 105 The word itself carries the meaning “that which
is pressed, extract” from Av. hu-, Skt. su-, “press, pound” 106 or “crushed” with a
mortar, from the action – physically and symbolically – taken to produce the juice
from the plant.
(“given by Haoma”) is recorded at Elephantine, 108 at Persepolis,109 where
inscribed implements for the preparation of haoma were found,110 and the He-
brew Bible. 111 The drink was seen as life-giving and life-preserving. It is drunk
unfermented since “there is not enough time during the ritual preparation of
haoma/soma for fermentation to take place,” 112 and the intoxication derived from
it is viewed as highly positive and is “the only one that has the effect of re-
establishing cosmic Order.”113 Plutarch notes this drink as part of the Achaemenid
imperial rite observed by Artaxerxes II upon accession – a ritual which, according
to him, goes back to Cyrus “the elder” (i.e. Cyrus II). 114 It is also fitting to the
context of this papyrus that “the preliminary stage of the ceremony involves a
careful purification of the officiating priests and of the implements and materials
essential to the ritual.” 115 The haoma-ceremony was part of a sevenfold ceremony
of re-creation representing the doctrine of the seven great Amǝša Spǝntas and
the seven creations. Every element in the liturgy had a symbolic role representing
one of these creations. 116 Given the emphasis on keeping purity in P. Berlin
13464 – with the only clear command to consume anything as part of the observ-
ance being to a certain drink (but not to any kind of food), the correspondence
with the Haoma ceremony is striking.
Bob Becking
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