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Category Archives: Antiquities Market
A Book of Psalms and a Missing Page Number
As part of the EthiCodex project, our team has been revisiting the often fragmentary remains of early codices. Thankfully, many collections have made digital images of their materials widely available. But sometimes it is also necessary to see things in … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities Market, Bernard Grenfell, Codices, Codicology, Michigan Papyri
3 Comments
A Cursed Figurine
I had the opportunity recently to revisit an interesting artifact at the Louvre. It is a small nude female figurine with hands and feet bound, pierced through with thirteen pins. According to the Louvre website, the figurine was bought in … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities Market, Magic
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Better Images of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Vatican
I mentioned in a post in 2021 that the Vatican Museum had on display two small fragments of animal hide with Hebrew letters that are identified as “inscribed fragments of Qumran scrolls.” They were donated in 2001 from the personal … Continue reading
New Article on the Dead Sea Scrolls said to come from Cave 1Q
I’m happy to report that the first 2022 issue of Harvard Theological Review contains my article on the Dead Sea Scrolls said to come from Cave 1 at Qumran: “How the ‘Jerusalem Scrolls’ Became the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran … Continue reading
Christianity Today on the Hobby Lobby vs. Obbink Case
Christianity Today has just published an article summarizing recent events in the case of Hobby Lobby vs. Obbink. The article, which contains some details from the most recent court documents, can be found here.
Posted in Antiquities Market, Dirk Obbink, Oxyrhynchus Papyri
1 Comment
The Dead Sea Scrolls of New Jersey
It is well known that a few of the best preserved Dead Sea Scrolls spent some time in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. The Syrian Archbishop Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel brought four scrolls to the US in … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities Market, Archaeological context, Dead Sea Scrolls
Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, qumran, Qumran Cave 1Q
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Dead Sea Scrolls at the Vatican
A visit to the Vatican Museums almost always yields something new. You can never know which rooms will be open, so occasionally there is the pleasant surprise of getting to see material that is usually hidden away. There are also … Continue reading
The Fate of the Van Kampen Collection
I’ve written before on a few occasions about the Van Kampen Collection of ancient manuscripts, a kind of predecessor of the Green Collection. In fact, it was Scott Carroll, the main architect of the Green Collection, who was also the … Continue reading
Hobby Lobby Inc. vs Dirk Obbink
A couple days ago, the news broke that Hobby Lobby has sued Professor Dirk Obbink for over $7 million USD. The 10-page complaint (which can be seen here) does not paint a nice picture of Prof. Obbink, but that’s generally … Continue reading
The Retraction of Dirk Obbink’s Sappho Chapter and the Question of Authenticity
Last week, the news broke that Brill had retracted a chapter by Prof. Dirk Obbink that presented false information about the provenance of the Sappho papyri. A statement from the volume’s editors explains the reasoning for the retraction. Just as … Continue reading
Variant Readings 