Person, Place, and Object: Ritual Healing in Roman and Late Antique Palestine
October 2024 | Vol. 12.10 By Megan Nutzman Malaria, battle wounds, pregnancy, scorpion stings, sciatica: these are just a few of the medical concerns that regularly appear in ancie
Osiris Must Die – Understanding the Practice of “Menacing the Gods” in Ancient Egyptian Magic
September 2024 | Vol. 12.9 By Franziska Naether Ancient Egyptian magical texts offer a rich repository of spells and incantations designed to manipulate divine forces for diverse p
No One Thought to Ask the Fruits: Revealing Philistines’ Traditions
June 2024 | Vol. 12.6 By Suembikya Frumin The Philistines (ca. 1200-604 BCE) left no textual sources for understanding their religion, and its study has traditionally been based on
A Minor Biblical Prophet Lives Again—Among the Dead
March 2024 | Vol. 12.3 By Amy Erickson In the catacombs beneath the city of Rome, where the dead were interred, honored, and visited, Jonah is strikingly alive. On the walls, the c
Archaeology of the Silk Road: What Lies Ahead?
November 2023 | Vol. 11.11 By Kate Franklin The idea of the Silk Road seems to be everywhere: bestselling books, museum exhibits, conferences, tours, travelogues, and geopolitical
Maritime Viewscapes and the Material Religion of Levantine Seafarers
September 2023 | Vol. 11.9 By Aaron Brody For ancient peoples, travel was profoundly liminal. Voyaging at sea was doubly liminal, leaving the safety of land and existing in a state
“Sin”: The Hidden History
September 2023 | Vol. 11.9 By David Konstan Sin is a religious concept. In civil law, one is accused of committing a crime, not a sin. But sin is often still more narrowly understo
Who Invented Idolatry?
June 2023 | Vol. 11.6 By Daniel Barbu In late antiquity, Christian authors triumphantly celebrated the end of polytheism and idolatry: Christ had vanquished the demons and the Chur
Absences, Archaeology, and the Early History of Monotheistic Religions in the Near East
February 2023 | Vol. 11.2 By Robin Derricourt In my writing I use archaeology and history together to understand phenomena of the deep past. I have authored survey volumes on inter
The History of Isaiah and the Age of Empires
October 2022 | Vol. 10.8 By Jacob Stromberg The prophet Isaiah stood at the beginning of an age of empires in the ancient Near East. In order, the age saw the rise of the neo-Assyr