Aramaic in Post-Biblical Judaism and Early Christianity


Note

- The bibliographical list is by no means exhaustive. Only the major publications are included. The full list of required readings (which will include most of the titles listed below) will be made up in due time, taking into account the level of preparation of the participants.
- Editions of primary Aramaic texts are not included unless they contain substantial introductions. Dictionaries and grammars are also not included.
- The titles are listed in chronological order of their appearance.

Track #1: Instruction in the Aramaic Language

Textbooks
a) Biblical Aramaic: Franz Rosenthal, A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1961 - or later reprint).
b) Jewish Literary Aramaic: Douglas Gropp, The Aramaic of Targums Onqelos and Jonathan: An Introduction (forthcoming - provided by the author)
c) Syriac: Takamitsu Muraoka Classical Syriac for Hebraists (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1987 - reprint 1996), which will be used along with L. Van Rompay, A Guide to the Syriac Language (Syllabus, Duke University, 2002-03).


Track #2: Seminar
Aramaic and its Literatures in Post-Biblical Judaism and Early Christianity

Week 1

1) Orientation to the Seminar: Aramaic in Post-Biblical Judaism and Early Christianity
Survey based on the following publications:
- Franz Rosenthal, Die aramaistische Forschung seit Th. Nöldeke's Veröffentlichungen (Leiden: Brill, 1939).
- Franz Rosenthal et al., An Aramaic Handbook (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1967).
- E.Y. Kutscher, Studies in Galilean Aramaic (Ramat-Gan, 1976).
- J. Fitzmyer, A Wandering Aramean. Collected Aramaic Essays (Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1979).
- Michael Sokoloff (ed.), Arameans, Aramaic and the Aramaic Literary Tradition (Ramat Gan, 1983).
- Klaus Beyer & John F. Healey, The Aramaic Language. Its Distribution and Subdivisions (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1986).
- S.A. Kaufman, "Languages (Aramaic)," in Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), vol. 4, 173-178.

2) Aramaic in the Qumran Community and the Dead Sea Scrolls
- E.Y. Kutscher, "The language of the 'Genesis Aprocryphon': A Preliminary Study," Scripta Hierosolymitana 4 (1957), 1-35.
- Joseph Fitzmyer, The Genesis Apocryphon of Qumran Cave I, Second, Revised Edition (Biblica et Orientalia, 18A; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1971).
- Michael Sokoloff, The Targum of Job from Qumran Cave XI (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University, 1974).
- J.T. Milik, The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976).
- Takamitsu Muraoka (ed.), Studies in Qumran Aramaic (Abr-Nahrain Supplement Series, 3; Louvain: Peeters, 1992) - several important articles.
- S. Schwartz, "Language, Power and Identity in Ancient Palestine," Past and Present 148 (1995), 3-47.
- Hannah M. Cotton & Ada Yardeni, Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek Documentary Texts from Nahal Hever and Other Sites. With an Appendix Containing alleged Qumran Texts (Discoveries in the Judean Desert, 27; Oxford: Clarendon Press / New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).

3) Aramaic Epigraphy of Roman Palestine: Jewish Burial & Synagogue Inscriptions
- Joseph A. Fitzmyer & Daniel J. Harrington, A Manual of Palestinian Aramaic Texts (Biblica et Orientalia, 34; Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1978).
- Joseph Naveh, cAl psefes ve-even. Ha-ketovot ha-aramiyot ve-ha-civriyot mi-vatei ha-keneset ha-catikim (Jerusalem, 1978).
- Lee I. Levine, Ancient Synagogues Revealed (Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society, 1981).
- Moshe Dothan, Hammath Tiberias: Early Synagogues (Jerusalem, 1983).
- L.Y. Rahmani, A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections of the State of Israel (Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority, 1994).
- R.M. Nagy, E.M. Meyers, et al., Sepphoris in Galilee: Crosscurrents of Culture (Winona Lake, WI: Eisenbrauns, 1996).
- Hayim Lapin, "Palestinian Inscriptions and Jewish Ethnicity in Late Antiquity," in Galilee Through the Centuries, ed. Eric M. Meyers (Winona Lake, WI: Eisenbrauns, 1999), 239-268.
- A selection of essays and articles, popular and scholarly, concerning the so-called James ossuary inscription, including writings by both Eric Meyers and Paul Flesher.

Week 2

4) Aramaic Translations of Scripture, Part 1: Targum Onqelos to the Pentateuch and Targum Jonathan to the Prophets
- G. Vermes, "Haggadah in the Onkelos Targum," in Post-Biblical Jewish Studies, ed. G. Vermes (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975), 127-138.
- M. Goshen-Gottstein, "The Language of Targum Onkelos and the Model of Literary Diglossia in Aramaic," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 37 (1978): 169-180.
- Bernard Grossfeld, The Targum Onqelos to Genesis (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1988), 1-40 ("Introduction").
- Edward M. Cook, "A New Perspective on the Language of Onqelos and Jonathan," in The Aramaic Bible. Targums and their Historical Context, eds. D.R.G. Beattie & M.J. McNamara (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series, 166; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 142-156.
- J.W. Wesselius, "Biblical Poetry through Targumic Eyes: Onkelos' Treatment of Genesis 49:8-12," in Give Ear to my Words: Psalms and other Poetry in and around the Hebrew Bible, ed. J. Dyk (Kampen Kok, 1996), 131-145.
- P.V.M. Flesher, "Is Targum Onqelos a Palestinian Targum? The Evidence of Genesis 28-50," Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 19 (1999), 35-79.
- Michael L. Klein, The Masorah to Targum Onqelos. As preserved in MSS Vatican Ebreo 448, Rome Angelico Or. 7, fragments from the Cairo Geniza and in earlier editions by A. Berliner and S. Landauer (Binghamton, NY: Global Publications, 2000).

5) Marriage and Divorce in Second-century Palestine in Light of the Babatha Aramaic Archives
- Y. Yadin, J.C. Greenfield and A. Yardeni, "Babatha's Ketubba," Israel Exploration Journal 44:1-2 (1994), 75-101.
- J.C. Greenfield, "Babatha's Property and the Law of Succession in the Babatha Archive," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 104 (1994), 211-224.
- Y. Yadin, "Aramaic Legal Papyri," in The Documents from the Bar Kokhba Period in the Cave of Letters. Hebrew, Aramaic and Nabatean-Aramaic Papyri (Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 2002), 39-118.

6) Aramaic Translations of Scripture, Part 2: The Palestinian Targums of the Pentateuch
- A. Shinan, "The 'Palestinian' Targums - Repetitions, Internal Unity, Contradictions," Journal of Jewish Studies 36 (1986), 72-87.
- A. Shinan, "Dating Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Some More Comments," Journal of Jewish Studies 41 (1990), 57-61.
- S.A. Kaufman and Y. Maori, "The Targumim to Exodus 20: Reconstructing the Palestinian Targum," Textus 16 (1991), 13-78.
- Robert Hayward, "Red Heifer and Golden Calf: Dating Targum Pseudo-Jonathan," in Targum Studies, vol. 1, Textual and Contextual Studies in the Pentateuchal Targums, ed. Paul V.M. Flesher (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992), 9-32.
- M. McNamara, Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1992), 1-46 ("Introduction").
- Paul V.M. Flesher, "Exploring the Sources of the Synoptic Targums to the Pentateuch," in Targum Studies, vol. 1, Textual and Contextual Studies in the Pentateuchal Targums, ed. Paul V.M. Flesher (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992), 101-134.
- S.A Kaufman, "Dating the Language of the Palestinian Targums and their Use in the Study of First Century CE Texts," in The Aramaic Bible. Targums and their Historical Context, eds. D.R.G. Beattie & M.J. McNamara (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series, 166; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 118-141.

Week 3

7) What Language did Jesus Speak?
- P. Kahle, The Cairo Geniza, 2nd ed. (New York: Praeger, 1959).
- M. Black, "Aramaic Studies and the Language of Jesus," in In Memoriam Paul Kahle, eds. M. Black & G. Fohrer (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissneschaft, 103; 1968), 17-28.
- James Barr, "Which Language did Jesus Speak?" Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 1 (1970-71), 9-29.
- J.A. Fitzmyer, "The Study of the Aramaic Background of the New Testament," in J.A. Fitzmyer, A Wandering Aramean (Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1979), 1-28.
- M. McNamara, "The Spoken Aramaic of First Century Palestine," in Church Ministry, ed. A. Mayes (Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association, 2; Dublin: Dominican Publications, 1977).
- G. Vermes, "Jewish Literature and New Testament Exegesis: Reflections on Methodology," Journal of Jewish Studies 33 (1982), 361-376.
- M. Wilcox, "Semitisms in the New Testament," in Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt II.25.2, ed. W. Haase (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1984).
- L.T. Stuckenbruck, "An Approach to the New Testament through Aramaic Sources: The Recent Methodological Debate," Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 8 (1991), 3-29.
- J.A. Lund, "The Language of Jesus," Mishkan 17-18 (1992-3), 139-155.

8) The Place of Aramaic in the Palestinian Talmud and other Palestinian Rabbinic Texts
- J. Neusner, Judaism in Society: The Evidence of the Yerushalmi (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983).
- J. Neusner, The Oral Torah: The Sacred Books of Judaism (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986).
- Steven D. Fraade, "Rabbinic Views on the Practice of Targum, and Multilingualism in the Jewish Galilee of the Third-Sixth Centuries," in The Galilee in Late Antiquity, ed. Lee I. Levine (New York & Jerusalem: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1992), 253-286.
- Lee I. Levine, The Rabbinic Class of Roman Palestine in Late Antiquity (Jerusalem: Yad Itzak Ben-Zvi, 1989).
- G. Stemberger, Jews and Christians in the Holy Land: Palestine in the Fourth century (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000).

9) Jewish, Christian and Pagan Interaction in Northern Palestine and Southern Syria
- H.C. Butler, E. Littman, et al., Syria, Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria, 4 vols. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1920-34). Selected passages.
- D. Urman, The Golan during the Romand and Byzantine Periods (Ann Arbor, MI, 1979).
- D. Urman, "Public Structures and Jewish Communities in the Golan Heights," in Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, eds. D. Urman and P.V.M. Flesher (Leiden: Brill, 1995), vol. 2, 373-618.
- Z.U. Maoz, "The Golan," in The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, ed. E. Stern (New York: Simon and Shuster, 1993), vol. 2, 525-546.


Week 4

10) Aramaic at the Crossroads of Dura Europos: Jewish Aramaic, Syriac and Palmyrene
- C.H. Kraeling, The Synagogue (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1956), esp. 261-277.
- A.R. Bellinger, F.E. Brown et al., The Excavations at Dura-Europos (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press). Selected sections from the final reports.
- Lucinda Dirven, The Palmyrenes of Dura-Europos. A Study of Religious Interaction in Roman Syria (Leiden: Brill, 1999).
- Sebastian Brock, "Some New Syriac Documents from the Third Century AD," Aram 3 (1991), 259-267.

11) Aramaic Translations of Scripture, Part 3: The Old Testament and New Testament Peshitta
- Michael P. Weitzmann, The Syriac Version of the Old Testament. An Introduction (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, 56; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
- Bruce M. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament (Oxford, 1977), 3-98.
- Tjitze Baarda, "The Syriac Versions of the New Testament," in The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research. Essays on the Status Quaestionis, eds. Bart D. Ehrman & Michael W. Holmes (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1995), 97-112.
- Sebastian P. Brock, "The Use of the Syriac Fathers for New Testament Textual Criticism," in The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research. Essays on the Status Quaestionis, eds. Bart D. Ehrman & Michael W. Holmes (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1995), 224-236.

12) Fourth-century Syriac Christianity (Aphrahat and Ephrem) and Judaism in Mesopotamia
- Lucas Van Rompay, "The Christian Syriac Tradition of Interpretation," in Hebrew Bible / Old Testament. The History of Its Interpretation, ed. Magne Sæbø, I. From the Beginnings to the Middle Ages (Until 1300), 1. Antiquity (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1996), 612-641.
- Christine C. Shepardson, "Ecchanging Reed for Reed: Mapping Contemporary Heretics onto Biblical Jews in Ephrem's Hymns of Faith," Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies, 5:1 (January 2002).
- Sidney H. Griffith, "Christianity in Edessa and the Syriac-Speaking World: Mani, Bar Daysan, and Ephraem: The Struggle for Allegiance on the Aramean Frontier," Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 2 (2002), 5-20.

Track #3: The History of the Aramaic Language

Session 1: From Imperial Aramaic to Standard Literary Aramaic and its Breakup

- J.C. Greenfield, "Standard Literary Aramaic," Actes du premier congrès international de linguistique sémitique et chamito-sémitique, Paris 16-19 juillet 1969, eds. A. Caquot & D. Cohen (The Hague & Paris : Mouton, 1974), 280-289.
- M.L. Folmer, The Aramaic Language in the Achaemenid Period. A Study in Linguistic Variation (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 68; Louvain, 1995).
- J. Fitzmyer, A Wandering Aramean. Collected Aramaic Essays (Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1979).
- Edward M. Cook, "A New Perspective on the Language of Onqelos and Jonathan," in The Aramaic Bible. Targums and their Historical Context, eds. D.R.G. Beattie & M.J. McNamara (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series, 166; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 142-156.


Session 2: Late Aramaic in Palestine: Aramaic Dialects among the Jews, Christians and Samaritans

- Z. Ben-Hayyim, The Literary and Oral Tradition of the Samaritans. III,1. Recitation of the Law; III,2. The Recitation of Prayers and Hymns (Jerusalem, 1961; 1967).
- M. Sokoloff, "The Current State of Research on Galilean Aramaic," Journal of the Near Eastern Society 37 (1978), 161-167.
- Daniel Boyarin, "An Inquiry into the Formation of the Middle Aramaic Dialects," Bono Homini Donum. Essays in Historical Linguistics in Memory of J. Alexander Kerns, eds. Y.L. Arbeitman & A.R. Bomhard, II (Amsterdam, 1981), 613-649.
- T. Muraoka, "A Study in Palestinian Jewish Aramaic," Sefarad 45:1 (1985), 3-22.
- Abraham Tal, "The Dialects of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic and the Palestinian Targum of the Pentateuch," Sefarad 46:1-2 (1986), 441-448.
- M. Bar Asher, "Le syro-palestinien - Études grammaticales," Journal asiatique 276 (1988), 27-59.
- Christa Müller-Kessler & Michael Sokoloff, The Christian Palestinian Aramaic Old Testament and Apocrypha Version from the Early Period (A Corpus of Christian Palestinian Aramaic, 1; Groningen: Styx, 1997).
- Paul V.M. Flesher, "The Literary Legacy of the Priests? The Pentateuchal Targums of Israel in their Social and Linguistic Context," in The Ancient Synagogue, eds. Birger Olsson & Magnus Zetterholm (Stockholm, in press).

Session 3: Syriac and Other Eastern Dialects

- Klaus Beyer, "Der reichsaramäische Einschlag in der ältesten syrischen Literatur," Zeitschrift der Deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft 116 (1966), 242-254.
- Lucas Van Rompay, "Some Preliminary Remarks on the Origins of Classical Syriac as a Standard Language: The Syriac Version of Eusebius of Caesarea's Ecclesiastical History," Semitic and Cushitic Studies, eds. G. Goldenberg & S. Raz (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994), 70-89.
- Riccardo Contini, "Hypothèses sur l'araméen manichéen," Annali di Ca' Foscari. Rivista della Facoltà di Lingue e Letterature straniere dell'Università di Venezia 34 (1995), 65-107.
- Han J.W. Drijvers & John F. Healey, The Old Syriac Inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene. Texts, Translations and Commentary (Handbuch der Orientalistik, I,42; Leiden: Brill, 1999).
- Hannu Juusola, Linguistic Peculiarities in the Aramaic Magic Bowl Texts (Helsinki: Finnish Oriental Society, 1999).

Session 4: Aramaic from the Medieval Period to the Present Day

- Sebastian Brock, "Some Observations on the Use of Classical Syriac in the Late Twentieth Century," Journal of Semitic Studies 34 (1989), 363-375.
- Yona Sabar, Targum de-Targum. An Old Neo-Aramaic Version of the Targum on Song of Songs (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1991).
- H.L. Murre-van den Berg, "A Syriac Awakening. Alqosh and Urmia as Centers of Neo-Syriac Writing," VII Symposium Syriacum (1996), ed. R. Lavenant (Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 256; Rome: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1998), 499-515.
- H.L. Murre-van den Berg, From a Spoken to a Written Language. The Introduction and Development of Literary Urmia Aramaic in the Nineteenth Century (Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, 1999).
- Geoffrey Khan, A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel (Boston, Massachusetts: Brill, 1999).
- Yona Sabar, "The Neo-Aramaic Pentateuch: A Summary of Findings," Pe'amim 83 (2000), 108-117.