Journal Articles by Brandon Simonson
TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism, 2021
In the received text of John 20:16, Mary Magdalene responds to Jesus with the Aramaic word ῥαββου... more In the received text of John 20:16, Mary Magdalene responds to Jesus with the Aramaic word ῥαββουνί, translated into Greek as διδάσκαλε (“teacher”). However, in some early manuscripts, ῥαββουνί is instead or also translated as κύριε/domine (“Lord”). Moreover, many other witnesses include the additional phrase καὶ προσέδραμεν ἅψασθαι αὐτοῦ (“and she ran to touch him”). Where did these variants originate, and how were they interpreted in the history of the church? This study broadly surveys the philological, text-critical, exegetical, and patristic evidence, and demonstrates that a first-century Aramaic context supports the translation of ῥαββουνί as “Lord”; meanwhile, the variant “and she ran to touch him” may have originated in a Valentinian setting where Mary Magdalene was being connected with Achamoth/the “lower Sophia.” Deliberate editorial activity was likely at play in these various presentations of Mary Magdalene at John 20:16, since the stakes around her were particularly high in the early centuries of Christianity. Thus, Johannine exegetes should begin to look beyond our received text of John 20:16 and discover the narrative variants preserved in this important verse, which have enlivened its interpretation throughout the history of the church.
BAF-Online: Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum, 2020
Most of the Aramaic onomasticon is not located in extant alphabetic sources, but instead can be f... more Most of the Aramaic onomasticon is not located in extant alphabetic sources, but instead can be found in cuneiform sources. In order to learn more about the reach of Aramaic through the individuals using it as a spoken language during the first half of the first millennium BCE, we must attend to the Aramaic personal names that appear in this much larger corpus of texts and inscriptions. Using a method that considers both linguistic and conceptual criteria, this paper compiles and analyzes possible Aramaic names that appear in the cuneiform text corpus and culminates with an updated list of the genuine Aramaic onomasticon. Ultimately, this paper provides insight that may be used in identifying West Semitic and other foreign onomastica in the cuneiform text corpus. My talk presents the results of this paper, which emerges from a much larger study of Aramaic names in the first millennium BCE.
Aramaic Studies, 2016
This article examines the appearance of the Aramaic hnṣl clause in the Elephantine legal corpus i... more This article examines the appearance of the Aramaic hnṣl clause in the Elephantine legal corpus in order to establish the specific legal function of the clause and explore its origins in ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian legal material. In the end, a Demotic equivalent to hnṣl reveals a strong parallel in legal function, which is to protect property from being reclaimed by former owners or those who may have a claim to ownership, especially between those of unequal status in society. It is concluded that the equivalent terms, the Aramaic hnṣl and the Demotic ṯꜣy, demonstrate the local development of a technical legal term at Elephantine, illustrating how locally prevailing law was able to thrive in Persian Egypt.
Chapters in Edited Volumes by Brandon Simonson
What's in a Divine Name? Religious Systems and Human Agency in the Ancient Mediterranean, 2024
Theophoric personal names simultaneously serve to identify an individual and make a statement abo... more Theophoric personal names simultaneously serve to identify an individual and make a statement about the deity invoked by each name. These personal names, this study argues, can be considered primary sources in their most essential form, reflecting one facet of a human attitude toward the divine that is otherwise free from the theological bias of an editor or redactor. Containing both onymic and semantic value, theophoric personal names can be read alongside divine epithets as they both shed light on humankind's perception of the gods. This chapter explores theophoric personal names in the Aramaic speaking world of diasporic and cosmopolitan Elephantine during the Persian period in order to seek insight into questions of how human names depict the complex and interrelated religious landscapes of multi-cultural communities. The rich theological landscape of Persian period Egypt as evidenced in Aramaic personal names demonstrates a confluence of cultures and religious traditions.
The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Law, 2019
This chapter examines several key historical aspects of law in the Persian period in order to def... more This chapter examines several key historical aspects of law in the Persian period in order to define the role and function of law in Persian provinces. First, the Persian dāta, translated “law” and at times “regulation,” illustrates how royal law advanced the interests of the Persian king. Second, narratives of imperial “authorization” and “codification” demonstrate that Persian support of the development of local law was primarily a political act intended to cultivate loyalty amongst the local elite and to facilitate the timely collection of tribute. Third, the Elephantine legal papyri provide a succinct example of the development of local legal traditions in a Persian period context, where local jurists drew from both Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources to create law. In the end, these historical aspects of law in the Persian period reveal an era defined by a distinct change in imperial policy toward the development of local legal traditions.
Book Reviews by Brandon Simonson
Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 2022
Review of Historical Implications of Jewish Surnames in the Old Kingdom of Romania. By Alexander ... more Review of Historical Implications of Jewish Surnames in the Old Kingdom of Romania. By Alexander Avram. Studies in Jewish Onomastics: The Project for the Study of Jewish Names. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 2021. Pp. 296 + xi. $115.00 (hard back), ISBN 9780271091426.
Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 2020
The significance of this volume extends far beyond the individual contributions within it. While ... more The significance of this volume extends far beyond the individual contributions within it. While Naming the Sacred: Religious Toponymy in History, Theology and Politics might be considered a volume...
Names: A Journal of Onomastics, 2020
The publication of onomastic resources for the study of West Semitic texts and inscriptions, part... more The publication of onomastic resources for the study of West Semitic texts and inscriptions, particularly personal names related to Aramaic texts and their dialects, reached new heights in the 1970s and 1980s. This time frame saw the release of J€ urgen Stark's Personal Names in Palmyrene Inscriptions (1971), Ran Zadok's On West Semites in Babylonia during the Chaldean and Achaemenian Periods: An Onomastic Study (1977), Sabri Abbadi's Die Personennamen der Inschriften aus Hatra (1983), and Mohammed Maraqten's Die semitischen Personennamen in den alt-und reichsaram€ aischen Inschriften aus Vorderasien (1988), all four of which are central to the study of personal names in the Levant during the first millennium BCE. In the decades since their publication, many more texts from this period have been uncovered and, consequently, many more personal names are now available for study. Enrico Marcato's reference volume, Personal Names in the Aramaic Inscriptions of Hatra, contains a list of all personal names found in the Aramaic inscriptions from the ancient city of Hatra, located about 300 kilometers northwest of modern Baghdad. A brief introduction provides a concise description of the city, the Aramaic epigraphic corpus, and the aims and content of the onomastic resource. Hatra served as a crucial trading center between the Parthian empire in the east and Roman empire in the west, and, therefore, its onomasticon contains names and influences of ancient Near Eastern, Iranian, Greek, Aramaic, and other origins. Beyond its significance for the study of the Hatran material, this work offers a glance into the everyday lives of people living in a multi-cultural community at the dawn of the first millennium CE. Marcato's volume, an updated and expanded version of his Ca'Foscari University of Venice thesis L'onomastica di Hatra alla luce della societ a e della cultura mesopotamica, primarily functions to update Abbadi's name book of the Hatran inscriptions with recently published material but also revises many of Abbadi's interpretations. The corpus of Hatran texts has nearly doubled since Abbadi's analysis was published in 1983, and our understanding of the Aramaic language has also improved in the intervening decades. Following the brief introduction and explanation of the numeration of Hatran inscriptions, Marcato presents three major sections: an onomastic catalogue, a linguistic analysis, and a concordance. The onomastic catalogue contains all 376 personal names from the Aramaic inscriptions uncovered at Hatra, with references to the critical editions of the texts and editiones principes. Each entry in the catalogue includes the following details: a transliteration of the personal name from its Aramaic script, the meaning (or possible meanings) of the name, additional readings, an etymology, onomastic parallels, and all attestations of the name in the Hatran materials. Of particular note are Marcato's detailed interactions with other onomastic resources from cognate languages, including contemporaneous parallels and those of possible antecedents. These cognate examples both support the author's interpretations and provide valuable cultural context behind the meanings of these ancient personal names.
Review of Biblical Literature, 2020
Omer Sergi, Manfred Oeming, and Izaak J. de Hulster, eds. In Search for Aram and Israel: Politics... more Omer Sergi, Manfred Oeming, and Izaak J. de Hulster, eds. In Search for Aram and Israel: Politics, Culture, and Identity. Orientalische Religionen in der Antike 20. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016. Pp. xvii + 429. Cloth.$194.00. ISBN 9783161538032.
Dissertation by Brandon Simonson
Scholarship on the onomastics of the ancient Near East typically evaluates a single text corpus o... more Scholarship on the onomastics of the ancient Near East typically evaluates a single text corpus or collection of names from a specific region, with a focus on names of a variety of linguistic origins from either alphabetic or cuneiform source material. This dissertation serves as a compilation of Aramaic names from both alphabetic and cuneiform sources geographically delimited to Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Levant (excluding Egypt and Anatolia) during the first half of the first millennium BCE. The product of a methodic evaluation of ancient Near Eastern texts and inscriptions, utilizing both linguistic and conceptual criteria in its selection, this compilation of names is analyzed according to the established taxonomic systems that have been developed in the study of Hebrew, Akkadian, and other Semitic names throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. Additional analyses in this volume include a comparative anthroponomy, a study of theophoric elements, an overview of names based on their morphological features, and various explorations of the elements found within them. Ultimately, this study serves to catalog the individuals with Aramaic names leading up to the time when Aramaic was the lingua franca of the greater ancient Near East,2021-09-07T00:00:00
Edited Volumes by Brandon Simonson
Dystopia, from the Greek dus and topos “bad place,” is a revelatory genre and concept that has ex... more Dystopia, from the Greek dus and topos “bad place,” is a revelatory genre and concept that has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity at the start of the twenty-first century. This book addresses approaches to the study of dystopia from the academic fields of theology and religious studies. Following a co-written chapter where Scott Donahue-Martens and Brandon Simonson argue that dystopia can be understood as demythologized apocalyptic, ten unique contributions each engage a work of popular culture, such as a book, movie, or television show. Topics across chapters range from the critical function of dystopia, social location and identity, violence, apocalypse and the end of everything, sacrifice, catharsis, and dystopian existentialism. This volume responds to the need for theological and religious reflection on dystopia in a world increasingly threatened by climate change, pandemics, and global war.
Conference Papers by Brandon Simonson
Over the course of the last century, the nsl clause of Elephantine has been translated and interp... more Over the course of the last century, the nsl clause of Elephantine has been translated and interpreted in several different ways, each of which can be traced back to a translation and interpretation of the biblical Hebrew nsl. This paper examines the appearance of the nsl clause in the Elephantine legal corpus in order to establish the specific legal function of the clause, and to explore the origins of this clause in both ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian legal material. In the exploration of legal function, traditional interpretations of testamentary succession are questioned, as the clause is much more versatile than scholars have suggested in the past. What is determined is particularly striking: the nsl clause of Elephantine was developed in the community to protect those who would not normally have evidence of clear title, especially those receiving property without mention of payment. After a thorough semantic analysis of the cuneiform and Egyptian legal terms, Persian period data is used to explore hitherto unnoticed parallels of the Aramaic nsl. Two Demotic antecedents of nsl reveal an exact parallel, in both form and legal function. In light of R. Ritner (2002), who emphasizes how locally prevailing law was often adopted into legal practice, and A. Botta (2009), whose paradigm shifting work provides evidence for an Egyptian origin of Aramaic legal terms, it is concluded that the nsl clause is a prime example of how Persian Egypt allowed local law to thrive within Persian legal practice.
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Journal Articles by Brandon Simonson
Chapters in Edited Volumes by Brandon Simonson
Book Reviews by Brandon Simonson
Dissertation by Brandon Simonson
Edited Volumes by Brandon Simonson
Conference Papers by Brandon Simonson