Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jan 7, 2012, 4:21 pm
Sorry for the hiatus. Moved into a new apartment, and now the whole family has come down with a sniffle. :-P It has been madness, but more on that later... Anyways! So, Elkington has posted a new video that shows the codices being tested at a lab. However, taking a close look at the codex that's bei...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Nov 9, 2011, 10:08 pm
Over on BLT, there is a very odd modern Bible that they're showcasing with writing in "Archaic Aramaic" script. At very first glance I thought it was written in Samaritan, but upon closer examination it seems to be lifted from the Mesha Stele (a Moabite flavor of Phoenician script). I recommend you ...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Sep 30, 2011, 9:39 pm
On The Biblioblog Reference Library: In early March 2011 the media reported upon an amazing discovery: Twenty to seventy codices, cast in lead, that potentially held untold secrets about early Christianity. However, from the very beginning something about the discovery appeared improper. Over the c...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Sep 21, 2011, 9:08 pm
(HT to Tom Verenna) The "weeping  palm" icon was hand-copied very much like the helmet motif on Herod The Great's 8-Prutot Piece (scroll down to the animated gif), only from a poor example. This motif is only found in one other piece in antiquity, and that is on the coins of Coponius, who was Ambib...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Sep 14, 2011, 10:14 pm
(Lead, from Wikipedia.) So you may be aware about how the informal group of Bibliobloggers who are putting the Jordan Codices and surrounding circumstances under the microscope recently uncovered that one of the metallurgical reports was tampered with on the Jordan Codices Facebook page. (For backgr...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Sep 14, 2011, 2:40 pm
A rather surprising story comes from Daniel Streett of καὶ τὰ λοιπά (HT to Jim Davila and James McGrath): A Test for Greek Professors In November, 2008, I presented a paper at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society on teaching Greek communicatively. As an experiment...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Sep 11, 2011, 12:26 am
When trying to explain the rather disjoint collection of stamped scripts and iconography that are found on the faces of the Jordan Lead Codices, I believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. As such, I have put together the following visualization which I believe can express to the average per...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Sep 8, 2011, 8:26 pm
Wonderful news for everyone interested in Syriac Studies! First, Beth Mardutho has recently been revamped with a spiffy new website with some more information about the Beth Mardutho Research Library. Jeez, I remember back when the previous version was first instated back at the IVth North American ...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Sep 5, 2011, 2:42 am
And now all somebody has to do is write it. 50 points to whomever can decipher the subtitle. It's a toughie. :-) Peace, -Steve *Not available anywhere.
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Sep 3, 2011, 2:34 pm
Tom Verenna with his limitless and bountiful zeal has taken the time to painstakingly compile a video that outlines the current evidences against the authenticity of the Jordan Lead Codices. This video comprises a good chunk of the collaborative research and discussion between Jim DaVilla, Dan McCle...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Aug 30, 2011, 10:42 am
(Ancient Roman lead ingots. One of the most abundant metals of the 1st century.) Introduction As a greater number of pictures of the codices surface -- in addition to other numerous points of evidence discussed by others -- virtually every specimen revealed can be discounted as a forgery outright as...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Aug 27, 2011, 5:47 pm
Going on the coin inscription lead, I came across a sequence of characters lifted nonsensically from the prutot of John Hyrcanus I (135-104 BC). Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Aug 23, 2011, 4:21 pm
(Is this David/Paul Elkington?) So I've been commenting on the Jordan Codices Facebook page about the anonymity of the "experts" they were discussing, and then I had the audacity to ask the owner of it who they were... And suddenly, all of my comments (as well as all of Dan McClellan...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Aug 23, 2011, 1:11 pm
I'm not sure why I did not realize this before, but I've noticed another possible source for the Lead Codices script presented thusfar (including some of the odder features, such as the omega-shaped shin): Bar Kochba coinage. Take a look. Bar Kochba Revolt. 132-135 CE. AR Sela – Tetradrachm. ...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Aug 23, 2011, 9:31 am
The latest news on the Lead Codices is that the official "academic team" (who I assume has Elkington somewhere in its midst and apparently still remains anonymous -- yeah) has recently claimed the following: Approximately two months ago, Hassan Saida, the Israeli Bedouin who smuggled the Jordan Co...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jul 28, 2011, 4:22 pm
(click to make it bigger) Well, I was pretty surprised when I was working on a bit of Syriac-related tomfoolery when I noticed -- completely caught off-guard, mind -- that Firefox 5 for Mac OS X properly renders Syriac OpenType fonts. I haven't tested to see if it's also the case with other OpenTyp...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jul 27, 2011, 1:47 pm
I know that there's been a heck of a lot of Aramaic-related stuff that I haven't blogged about as of late from Syriac question marks and printing presses, the SBL Aramaic Studies session, etc. etc.. This is mostly because I've been devoting most of my "free" (hah..) time to The Biblioblog Reference ...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jul 3, 2011, 10:27 am
(Image from Wikipedia) Jim West had a brilliant idea which has inspired me and I'm off to the craft store for materials to make a mockup. I Still Think Eisenbrauns Should Sell Customized USB Flash Drives With some cool cuneiform on them. What would be neater? And they aren’t at all that expensi...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jun 29, 2011, 10:10 am
(HT to Joel and Jim West who has the press release.) "Israeli scholars say they have confirmed the authenticity of a 2,000-year-old burial box bearing the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas of the New Testament. The ossuary bears an inscription with the name “Miriam daughter of Yesh...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jun 24, 2011, 7:51 pm
Over on Unsettled Christianity, Joel noted that British Archaeology Magazine ran an article about the Lead Codices and actually got it right. The article also mentioned some of my work in connection with it, too. :-) Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jun 21, 2011, 2:23 pm
Blogger is behaving oddly, so I'll make this brief. Here's the official announcement about what happened to The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon: A Note to our users: We apologize for the unavailability of our system during the six weeks between early May and mid-June, 2011. The CAL server was struc...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jun 20, 2011, 12:54 pm
I've been busy as anything the past few days, so I have not had the time to report directly about these, but here's some fresh Aramaic-related news: Jim DaVila reports about the graffiti deciphered in Israel noting a small goof in how Aramaic is related to Hebrew and Arabic.Also from Jim, a new book...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jun 15, 2011, 10:07 pm
Sometimes a picture is the only way I can express how I feel. But if you want more words, this is what I have to say. Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jun 15, 2011, 9:33 pm
(Kudos to Jim West for the photos.) I have been holding back on commenting because I am getting a bit more than irked about this story and the gross oversights by both the press and the "authorities" who are handling it. Now the Jordinian Department of Antiquities has announced that, via carbon dat...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - May 17, 2011, 11:01 am
Today, my daughter helped coin a new Aramaic phrase to use in time for the mushroom hunting season: תרנגלא דחורשא (More info here. :-) ) With the above, this would only follow naturally: תרנגולתא דחורשא (More info here. :-) ) But perhaps it might be better to swap thin...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - May 5, 2011, 1:03 pm
Yep, some punk thought they wanted to spread more malware, so they found an exploit somewhere on the bowels of the CAL server and uploaded some nasty files. Since Dr. Kaufman is out of the country, it's going to take until some time after May 25th (when he gets back) to get the entire thing sorted o...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 29, 2011, 4:58 pm
"But first, we must TEST!" So, there's been a new development concerning the Lead Codices where the Jordinian Government apparently has seized several of them. In the article that announced this, the Jordinian Department of Antiquities Director Ziad Saad, is quoted saying, “There has been a debat...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 27, 2011, 3:13 pm
There's a new online course to learn Biblical Aramaic from Hebrew University, online: Hebrew University and eTeacher Group Offer Aramaic Language via Online Program The Ancient Language of Daniel's Prophecies ...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 25, 2011, 10:23 am
Archeological finds announced RIYADH: The Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) has announced a series of discoveries of historical interest made over the last year at sites across the country. An annual report from the SCTA’s Antiquities and Museums Research Center said e...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 24, 2011, 11:51 am
Happy Easter to everyone out there! Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 17, 2011, 1:05 am
So, just for fun I decided to search Amazon.com for David Elkington's book on the Lead Codices; however, instead I came across what you can see in the image above. In short, where there appears to be a strange and overly convenient hole in the Internet where one would expect his book to exist (i.e. ...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 16, 2011, 12:49 pm
A request for comment has gone out to figure out what a good set of categories would be for Featured Articles over at the Biblioblog Reference Library. Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 13, 2011, 11:42 pm
Via James McGrath: The news that the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary has been completed, and all its volumes are free online, has been shared by Charles Halton, Duane Smith, H. H. Hardy, and AWOL. Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 12, 2011, 12:16 pm
And after all of this craziness in the press... and how it doesn't seem to want to stop... I am proud to introduce: After getting a bit more than irked with the recent press coverage concerning the Lead Codices and other sensational news, one Biblioblogger decided to find a way to bring...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 11, 2011, 4:43 pm
This morning I was contacted by Natalie Wolchover who is a writer for LiveScience and Life's Little Mysteries and she wanted to interview me about my script analysis of the Lead Codices. I could not be more pleased to lend my assistance. :-) Here are links to the articles: Early Christian Lead Codic...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 10, 2011, 2:02 am
(Click to enlarge. Careful, it's big!) So I've gone over each clear picture of the Lead Codices I've been able to get my hands on, and I've compiled a table of every readable glyph with more to follow. In summary: Only 8 characters are shared amongst all plates thusfar. This is rather odd, given th...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 8, 2011, 8:28 pm
Daniel McClellan via Mark Chan realized that the inscription that the fake Bronze Codices came from a bilingual funerary inscription in Greek and Nabatean. However upon examination I've determined that the Nabatean portion of the inscription does not match any of the text on any of the good quality ...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 6, 2011, 11:42 pm
Via James McGrath: Via The Stoa Consortium, learned of this call for papers: Workshop Call for Papers February 13-14, 2012 Brown University The Program in Judaic Studies in collaboration with the Brown University Library’s Center for Digital Scholarship is pleased to announce plans for a two-day...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 6, 2011, 9:42 pm
I'm glad to see that I am not the only person who is habitually troubled with the whole "'Abba' means 'Daddy'" meme. (Keep fighting the good fight, Doug!) You may have heard on the Internet, or through a sermon, or even may have read in a number of books that the Aramaic word "abba" is akin to the E...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 4, 2011, 8:32 pm
So earlier today when I blogged about some of my findings concerning the script of the Lead Codices, I was asked via email, "[Steve,] where did you get your ability to recognize errors ancient scripts like that?" I jokingly replied, "Well, I think it's in my blood." To better explain what I mean I r...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 4, 2011, 9:31 am
Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots has been going on around these "Lead Codices" among the Biblioblogs and media (and unfortunately, the latter just isn't comparing notes with the former). After a bit more digging here and there I finally was able to come across a picture with some of the writ...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Apr 3, 2011, 3:59 pm
I thought I'd share the draft cover art for Delmeh d'Kefa Arnva (דילמיה דכיפא ארנבא "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" in Galilean Aramaic). Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Mar 31, 2011, 1:59 pm
James McGrath just learned that his paper "The Satirical Use of Christian Material in the Mandaean Book of John," has been accepted for the Aramaic Studies section at the Society of Biblical Literature 2011 Annual Meeting in San Francisco! More on Exploring Our Matrix. Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Mar 21, 2011, 7:23 pm
Where it looks like all publishing companies who have expressed any interest in The Tale of Peter Rabbit in Galilean Aramaic have also expressed regrets that it would be impossible to get published by Easter this year, I am now in the midst of planning to follow in the footsteps of Beatrix Potter, h...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Mar 16, 2011, 3:39 pm
And for The Aramaic Blog's 200th Post: David Taylor over at Oxford put up a skeleton of the class he's teaching in PDFs on Imperial Aramaic. Well written and well done. :-) http://arshama.classics.ox.ac.uk/aramaic/index.html Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Feb 20, 2011, 7:23 am
From Aina.com: Thrissur, India -- A project to trace, catalogue and digitise lost documents relating to religious practices, culture and heritage of Syrian Christians of Kerala has been launched by the Church in collaboration with some European universities and local historical research bodies....
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Feb 14, 2011, 10:09 pm
Firstly,My colleague James McGrath composed a beautiful Mandaic poem for the annual Eisenbrauns Valentine's Day Contest and took first place!Sadly, my entry (the Syriac Heart Pendants I've made) didn't make it this year, but I'm glad to have helped co-edit the winning entry. :-)Next year however, Ja...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Feb 12, 2011, 9:52 pm
So today I heard back from Warne, one of the publishers I sent The Tale of Peter Rabbit in Galilean Aramaic to. Also also of note, they were the book's original publisher... (Well in truth it's second publisher. They originally rejected Peter Rabbit when Beatrix Potter threw the idea in their way th...
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Feb 6, 2011, 10:25 am
Aramaic Designs has a bunch of Syriac Heart Pendants looking for new homes in time for Valentine's Day. They have upon them the Syriac Aramaic word for "Heart" curled around in the shape of one. :-) Peace, -Steve
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Steve C. posted an article on The Aramaic Blog - Jan 23, 2011, 7:57 pm
So, a while back I took a rather elaborate translation job by a voice acting company who wanted to translate a large amount of dialog from English into Imperial Aramaic so that Darius The Great of Persia could speak in his native tongue for a video game. After it was done, I tried emailing them back...
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