Author Archives: Brent Nongbri
A New Project on Gospel Harmonies
I’m very happy to report that my colleague Dr. Mina Monier has been awarded funding from the Research Council of Norway for a four-year project examining gospel harmonies, texts that weave together the narratives of the four canonical gospels. The … Continue reading
New Radiocarbon Analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls
An important new study of the Dead Sea Scrolls has just been published (open access!) in the journal PLOS One: Mladen Popović et al., “Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis,” PLOS One 2025. In some ways, … Continue reading
The Sarcophagus of the Muses from Isola Sacra: Manuscripts and Readers
I’ve written before about the reopening of the museum at Ostia Antica in 2024. One of my favorite displays there involves material from what is now known as Tomb E 200 from Isola Sacra–an interesting sarcophagus with equally interesting contents. … Continue reading
The Bulletin of the Bezan Club
[[Update 5 June 2025: I managed to find two additional issues (8 and 9) and a copy of issue 6 that has all of its pages. So, now we lack only issues 10-12.]] [[Update 26 June 2025: Thanks to Jean … Continue reading
7Q5 and Appeals to Authority, Part 1: Orsolina Montevecchi
I am fascinated by the Wikipedia entry for 7Q5, which seems to continuously bounce back and forth between being useful and informative to being goofy and borderline incoherent. 7Q5 is a tiny fragment of papyrus found in Cave 7Q at … Continue reading
Pumice, Parchment, and Papyrus
In the latest issue of the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists (2024, just out–table of contents here), I have an article on the use of pumice on papyrus (AAM here). Here is the abstract: Papyrological handbooks published in … Continue reading
The So-called Bust of Josephus
I recently had occasion to spend some time revisiting the works of the Jewish historian Josephus, which was a real pleasure. When working on Josephus, I occasionally come across the “bust of Josephus” that so often serves as an illustration … Continue reading
More on the mikveh at Ostia and Other Jewish Materials
In March I noted the announcement that a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath, had reportedly been found in Ostia, the port city of ancient Rome. I had missed an article from the Times of Israel that adds some details to … Continue reading
Working with Manuscripts
It’s a nice moment when you receive the first copies of a book you’ve written. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of opening the box of authors’ copies of Working with Manuscripts, written together with my colleague Liv Ingeborg Lied. This … Continue reading
A Newly Discovered mikveh at Ostia
At a press conference this afternoon in the archaeological park at Ostia Antica, it was announced that a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath, has been discovered in the center of the ancient city. Ostia is well known to students of … Continue reading
