August 2005  

Vol.  V - No.1

• 16th Century Curtain

• Website Attacked

• In Defense of Peace Center

• From The Editor

• Bibliography

• Dating of Inscription

• POSTCARD

• Brazen Bird

• Web links

• Additional Books

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Samaritan Website Attacked

The website, www.the-samaritans.com was attacked Wednesday, August 31, by an unknown hacker resulting in an empty file. The server was notified of the hackers replacement page that only lasted a few hours. All of the Samaritan files had been erased from the server. As of last Friday the server informed us that they will try to use their backup files to bring back the entire site this coming week. The only question is whether we shall use if any the old discussion section, and if not, a new more secure forum will be in place. It is not known by us if we were the only ones affected by the hacker.

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In Defense of the Samaritan Peace Center

By Samaritan Benny Tsedaka

All I can tell you right now as it always been, the convoy is going on. Last week I got the hard copy of the reply of the new British Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Dr. Kim Howells To Lord Avebury, supporting my proposal for Mount Gerizim as an international peace center and suggesting to  renew our application to the European Union whose current president is Great Britain.

Secondly: I had last Wednesday, August 24, an important meeting with Mr. Rassan El Saq'aa, the
most powerful Nablus personality and one of the five leading leaders of the Palestinian authority as member of the Active Committee and former Nablus Mayor for many years till two years ago, when he left his office to dedicate himself to the matters of the Palestinian Authority, in his Nablus office in El Qaser Hotel. The main points of his statements:

1. He totally supports our intention to make Mount Gerizim as international Peace Center and sees
the Samaritans as Bridge of Peace.

2. In case of the establishment of the Palestinian State alongside Israel the Samaritans will have a
free pass anytime between their centers in Palestine and Israel.

3. Aware to the fact that the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim have two I.D.'s Palestinian and Israeli,
he said that it is compatible to the future Palestinian written Law that each civilian of the Palestinian State will have the right two different I.D.'s, Palestinian one and Foreign one. So they can continue to hold two I.D.'s in any political situation. The Samaritans are integral part of the Palestinians and they will be recognized as citizens of the Palestine State.

4. The Peace centers on Gerizim Mountain will be assisted financially as any other public centers of the Palestinian State.

This is what is happening so far with this important project.
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From The Editor

There are still questions to the Peace center that have to be answered before any further process is to be made on behalf of the Samaritan Communities. All pros and cons need to be weighed! We all know the situation concerning the Peace Talks in the area, but since no one has been able to solve this situation so far after all these years, can the Samaritans really help find the solution to this problem? PA members and Israelis have discussed the Peace Process for many years with little effects on peace so far. But one must also realize that a third party is involved in the negotiations and that is the Christian Church, according to the Oslo Accord. What is their plan for the area? Can the three parties really come to an agreement? Answers need to be addressed concerning the Samaritan-Israelite communities.

What incentives will affect the Samaritan Communities? How will this help the situation in the area or will it make it worse especially for the small number of Samaritans? Will there be people (Jews, Christians or Muslims) that will threaten the Samaritans? Who will protect them? Who will pay for the protection? Will this disturb the lifestyle of the communities? Arabs refuse to sell their land to a Samaritan, where will the land for this venture come from? Does the current High Priest offer his full support? Do all the Samaritans agree on the plan for the Peace center? Where will the Center be built? Has there been a meeting of all Samaritans to discuss this plan or was the issue brought forth just to a few members? These are just a few of the unanswered questions.

We understand the situation of the small community on Mount Gerizim, but is the Development Plans for a Peace Center or for improvements to the community that is badly needed or is there another reason? Is this one man's quest as shown in Benny's words, "supporting my proposal for Mount Gerizim as an international peace center"? It defiantly would be a great feat to solve the problems of peace all over the world!

Improvements to the community do in fact need to be made along with a hostel/library where people can come, visit and learn from not just one Samaritan but all of them. We are all for Peace everywhere!!!!!!!

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A Bibliography of the Samaritans: Revised, Expanded And Annotated (Atla Bibliography Series)

(Hardcover)
by Alan David Crown, Reinhard Pummer
 

1. Publisher: Scarecrow Press; 3rd edition (August 30, 2005)
2. Language: English
1. ISBN: 081085659X

 

Book Description
Contains nearly 2,000 new items directly concerned with Samaritan studies written since 1984, retains the alphabetical arrangement by author and the subject index, and supplies a new title index.

Amazon Price- $100.00

Order online from Scrarecrow Press @ $85.00

Dating of Inscription

by Matthew Hamilton

According to Samaritan Update, February 28^th and March 28^th 2002, there appears to have been originally a photograph of an early Samaritan inscription on marble. I have obtained a copy of the Fishburn Books catalogue of March 2003, with the photograph of the inscription owned by Clive Farahar and Sophie Dupre. All information there regarding the date appears accurate.

One further feature that points to both the Samaritan and Arabic being carved at the same date (1779 AD), and hence the Samaritan not being ancient is that the marks of the inscribing tool around the Samaritan and Arabic are the same -- smooth letters surrounded by unpolished incised
areas.

In the couple of hours I've been able to work from the photograph, I've come to the tentative conclusion that the inscription is not ancient. My reasoning is as follows:-

 

1. In general appearance the inscription looks similar to a number of medieval Samaritan inscriptions that I can recall without comparing the appropriate publications to see precisely which inscriptions appear similar.

2. The only authentic claim for the inscription being ancient was made by Dr Alfred Cooper Fryer, who has no known reputation for expertise in dating Samaritan inscriptions, who does not cite known experts of the time such as Lagrange, and who does not make any comparison with the then known few and published Samaritan inscriptions.

3. Even if Fryer did have expertise, did cite known experts and did make comparisons with then known and published inscriptions, the experts of the time lacked sufficient Samaritan inscriptions to make accurate comparative dating of this inscription. (On the other hand, it is questionable if we are any better off in 2005 in dating Samaritan epigraphs -- see the inscription in The Living Torah Museum, dated 4th century in The Samaritan Update of January  2005, but dated 7th-12th centuries in Biblical Archaeology Review of November 2004).

4. There are a number of features that indicate that both the Samaritan and Arabic were carved at the same time, hence the Samaritan is not ancient, but dates to 1779, and these features became apparent when I tried to reconstruct what the Samaritan inscription would have looked like before it was recarved to add the Arabic script, and how it would have been recarved to add the Arabic script.

4a. How it would have looked before it was recarved? - the incription is somewhat symmetrical with for example the left and right margins of equal size, the first line framed by two triangular shaped decorations, the second line having each end going up towards the triangles of the first line, and the fourth line having the text centre justified. All this suggests that the scribe measured his stone, calculated the space needed for each letter, each mark of word division, and the marks of abbreviation at the ends of the first and second lines, before he began carving. However, in the third line the last word divider of the line looks a little squashed up against the last letter.

- each letter is formed with the flat polished surface of the stone around each letter carved away.

- there are some exceptions to this, these being the bottom of the second and fourth letters letters of the second line (in each case the join is only partial), the bottom of the first (Samaritan) letter of the fourth line, and the top of the third (Samaritan) letter of the fourth line

-each line of text is made more distinct by additional stone carved away between and near the letters so that each line of text has a border of the flat polished surface of the stone.
- the border is also found above the first line, below the fourth line, as a left and right margin, and in the areas to the left and right of the fourth line.
- no words are carved such that the beginning of the word is on one line, and the end of the word is on the next line.
- each line ends in either a mark of abbreviation (first and second lines) or a word divider (third and fourth lines). In this I'm assuming the triangular shaped mark to the left of the letter N is a word divider and not part of the Arabic script (I don't read Arabic so I can't be certain).

4b. How it would have been recarved to add the Arabic script?
- the fourth line (Arabic script) is somewhat symmetrical. This suggests the area to the left, right and below the fourth line would have been measured, the scribe calculating the area need to fit in his text with symmetry, before he began carving.
- each letter is formed with the flat polished surface of the stone around each letter carved away - and this is where I observe two features that show that the Samaritan and Arabic were carved at
the same time.
- the fourth line (Samaritan script), first letter, joins the Arabic letter beneath it when usually there should be a recess here.

- the fourth line (Arabic script), has letters whose tops occur where there should be a recess beneath the fourth line of Samaritan script.

There is much more investigation on this inscription to date it properly, but as it is almost certainly not ancient, I will leave that to someone else. The inscription has yet to be fully investigated.

Matthew Hamilton
Moore Theological College Library
1 King Street Newtown NSW 2042
Australia
matthew.hamilton@moore.edu.au

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Samaritan Manuscripts in St Petersburg Book

Shimon Iakerson Abraham Firkovich de karaïet en zijn verzameling Hebreeuwse en Samaritaanse manuscripten in Sint-Petersburg

isbn 90 5629 390 7
14,8 x 21 cm, 40 pages, geniet gebrocheerd, 2005 Dutch € 7,80

http://www.aup.nl/do.php?a=show_visitor_book&isbn=9056293907

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JUDAICA POSTCARD – E.M .LILIEN – Entitled “SAMARITANISCHER HOHERPIESTER”.

On back it is written that the painting is from the book “EREZ ISRAEL UND SEIN VOLK”. Published by B. Harz, Berlin.

 E. M. Lilien is one of the most important modern Jewish artists, who was a teacher in the famous Bezalel school of art in Jerusalem.

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The Brazen Bird of the Romans on the Mount

By Shomron

You may have read about the bird that was placed on Mount Gerizim during the days of Baba Rabba if not I included a section shown below. Now when I read this section in the Samaritan chronicles I found this hard to believe. I was wondering if the Romans have trained a bird and placed a brazen coat over it, but recently I have discovered some information. It appears that the Romans actually had a mechanical bird that spoke. By changing the number, length or diameter of pipes or inserting something in or around them would make different sounds. By adding two pipes would make two sounds in which this case in the Samaritan Chronicle made it sound like he-bre. How this was done I am not sure, maybe there was a type of pressure plate that was placed on the path but I feel that a standing guard activated the bird when someone was sited. It is amazing to see that such technology existing 1700 years or so ago. Now since we know that mechanical birds did in fact exist at that time, it makes the story more realistic and acceptable to the reader.

Again below is shown the section from the Samaritan chronicle and web links of information for you to investigate on your own. It is interesting!

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The Samaritan Chronicle Or The Book of Joshua, the son of Nun by Oliver Turnbull Crane, M.A. John B. Alden, Publisher, New York, 1890

CHAPTER L. THE HISTORY OF BABA RABBA, AND WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM WITH THE ROMANS.

   'And also then the Romans prevented the Samaritans from ascending the Mount; for they said: “Whosoever goes up on to this Mount shall be put to death.” And the Romans placed upon the summit of the Mount a talisman, and this was a brazen bird, and it used to turn round with the sun howsoever it revolved, and it was so that if a Samaritan did go up, the bird would screech out: “Hebraeus,” and they would know then that there was a Samaritan on the Mount, and would issue forth against him and kill him.'

The Mechanical Bird Informational Links

Heron of Alexandria was born in 75 AD.  He is a Greek mathematician but his interests are in engineering and mechanics. Ramelli's work was not a translation of Heron, but it borrowed heavily from the Alexandrine writings. He described and illustrated for the first time the rotary pump, mechanical details of windmills, and a coffer-dam of interlocking piles, as well as other technological developments. Consistent with other writings of the period, Ramelli did not neglect to include several examples of biological automata in the form of hydraulically operated singing birds.

These ingenious hydraulic and pneumatic machines next had their greatest development in Italy. An account of the best sixteenth century examples was published by Montaigne in 1581.8 At the Villa d'Este at Tivoli, he particularly noted the fine statuary adorning the villa and the gardens, which had been reproduced from the finest sculptures of Rome. Although a fine display of fountains and waterfall has survived at the villa to the present, nothing remains of the mechanical curiosities which were featured in the grottoes and which have fallen victims to moisture and to time. Montaigne was particularly impressed by the organs that played music to the accompaniment of the fall of water and devices which imitated the sound of trumpets. He related how birds began to sing and how, when an owl appeared upon a rock, the bird song ceased abruptly. This sequence, borrowed in its entirety from Heron of Alexandria, was to be borrowed again several decades later by de Caus.

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~DRBR/b_edini.html

Another development, made possible as a direct result of the Renaissance clockmaker's skill, was the introduction of sound by the replacement of the hydraulic and pneumatic motivation with self-contained delicate mechanisms. The singing birds of Philon and Heron, which had been motivated by compressed air or steam, were the earliest machines to reproduce the sounds of living things, but the first substantial innovation to make the reproduction of sound possible within a self-contained unit was the revolving pinned barrel or cylinder. The action of pins or pegs attached to the circumference of the cylinder or barrel at right angles to the axis could be transmitted some distance by means of simple levers as the cylinder revolved. If these levers were in contact with valves of organ pipes, for instance, the pipes would sound for as long as the pins continued to maintain contact with the levers. This device made possible the completely mechanical performance of automatic sounding instruments. One of the earliest applications of this device of which there is record was made in an organ clock presented as a gift from Queen Elizabeth of England, to the Sultan of Turkey in 1599 (see Figure 10). The clock was the work of a goldsmith named Randolph Bull, clockmaker to the Queen, while the organ mechanism was constructed by Thomas Dallam, who also supervised the installation of the clock in the Sultan's palace.

the mechanical principles were derived in part from a treatise, Automatic Theater, by Heron of Alexandria (ca. 150 A.D.), with its descriptions of moving simulacra, such as replicas of singing birds. This technology, an aspect of Greco-Roman and Alexandrian science, was preserved by Byzantium and thus acquired and expanded by the Arabs, and then transmitted in the 13th century to European builders of automata.

http://www.cosmos-club.org/journals/1999/bowles.html

Heron of Alexandria or Hero,mathematician and inventor. The dates of his birth and death are unknown; conjecture places them between the 2d cent. B.C. and the 3d cent. A.D. He is believed to have lived in Alexandria; although he wrote in Greek, his origin is uncertain. Several of his works survive either in Greek or in Latin translation. He wrote on the measurement of geometric figures, and a formula for finding the area of a triangle has been ascribed to him. Known for his study of mechanics and pneumatics, he invented many contrivances operated by water, steam, or compressed air; these include a fountain, a fire engine, siphons, and an engine in which the recoil of steam revolves a ball or a wheel.

You see, Hero invented feedback control devices. His self-filling wine bowl, for example, had a hidden float valve that automatically sensed the level of wine in a bowl. When guests ladled out wine, the bowl mysteriously refilled itself.

That's called a closed feedback loop. Egyptian inventors had been making gadgets like that for 300 years before Hero. They'd made feedback-controlled water-clocks and lamp-fillers.

http://homepages.tscnet.com/omard1/jportac19.html

http://www.tmth.edu.gr/en/aet/5/55.html

THE PNEUMATICS OF HERO OF ALEXANDRIA FROM THE ORIGINAL GREEK TRANSLATED FOR AND EDITED BY BENNET WOODCROFT PROFESSOR OF MACHINERY IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON LONDON TAYLOR WALTON AND MABERLY
UPPER GOWER STREET AND IVY LANE PATERNOSTER ROW 1851

. A Bird made to whistle by flowing Water.

http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/hero/section14.html

http://www.history.rochester.edu/steam/hero/index.html

Also notice water to wine

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/HeronAlexandria2.htm

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Web links

Listen to the link http://www.tzafonet.org.il/kehil/music03/music/ivrit/tanac/shiratkria.mp3

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Samaritan Article http://www.dangoor.com/TheScribe70.pdf

Samaritan alphabet http://www.omniglot.com/writing/samaritan.htm

Guard's of Mount Grizim by Alex Maist

 http://www.jewishmag.co.il/78mag/samaritans/samaritans.htm

Population Information

http://alfred.med.yale.edu/alfred/recordinfo.asp?condition=(populations.pop_name='Samaritans')

Samaritan Pentateuch Copies Israel Samaritans Temple Testament.

http://www.economicexpert.com/a/Samaritan:Pentateuch.html

The Samaritans - A Jewish Sect in Israel Strategies for Survival of an Ethno-religious Minority in the Twenty First Century by Sean Ireton University of Kent at Canterbury MA Dissertation for Ethnicity, Nationalism and Identity http://www.anthrobase.com/Txt/I/Ireton_S_01.htm

Samaritans http://disseminary.org/hoopoe/poly/2005/06/samaritans.html

ENGLISH TRANSLATION of Eusebius, Onomasticon 64:16-17 (ca. 295 A.D.); Jerome 65:16-17 (ca. 390 A.D.)
Gerizim (Deut 11:29), is the mountain on which stood those who recited the blessings [Jerome mistakenly writes: the curses], near Mount Gebal of which we spoke above.

Itinerarium Burdigalense 586-587 (333 A.D.)
City of Neapolis (15 miles). Mount Gerizim is there, where according to the Samaritans, Abraham offered his sacrifice. There are 1300 steps leading to the top of the mountain. http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/mad/sources/sources014.html

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Additional Books

Israel Kingdom Scriptures with Bible Chronology. Dryburg, Betty Jane. Book Description: Artisan Publishers, 2004. 48 pages. All Scriptures that relate to God's people Israel, their Identity, and God's Covenants to Israel can be found in this highly informative little book. Includes a brief Old Testament Chronology based on the Septuagint System and confirmed by the Samaritan Hebrew Text and archaeology. Brand new paperback. Satisfaction guaranteed by professional seller. All books plastic-wrapped for shipment.

RELIGIOUS PARTIES IN ISRAEL: THEIR HISTORY, METHODS, AND PERILS Burstein, Abraham Book Description: New York: Bloch Publishing Company, 1936. H59 pages. Various groups within Judaism from Biblical days to present, such as Samaritans, Pharisees, Sadducees, Karaites, Hassidism, Haskalah, Reform.

Secret History of Procopius (ISBN:076617039X)  Book Description: Published Jul 2003, Kessinger Publishing. Paperback. CONDITION NEW COPY, Pages: 300, The historian Procopius was not a Latin. He was born in Caesarea in Palestine about 500 AD, and apparently was one of those Samaritans whom he mentions in the "Secret History" as adopting Christianity for formal protection and not at all for spiritual reasons. In the following text, the chapter divisions are those of the manuscript. Here is a narrative with the fascination of the elder Dumas; but it is more than a collection of anecdotes of intrigue, it is a history, in which the purple past of Rome lives a.

REWRITTEN BIBLE COMPOSITIONS AND BIBLICAL MANUSCRIPTS, WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH
Tov, Emmnuel Book Description: Leiden 1998. Article in Dead Sea Discoveries, A Journal of Current Research on the Scrolls and Related Literature. 8vo., 21pp., wraps. This is the whole issue of this journal, with several articles. 8vo., 141pp., wraps. VG. a few inner pages wrinkled.

Sciagraphia philologiae sacrae, difficiliores quaestiones plerasque, & linguarum Orientalium usum genuinum delineans, editio secunda, emendata, & usu Arabismi etymologico aucta.
CELLARIUS, C. (Leiden, ZH, Netherlands) Book Description: Jena, in bibliopolio Bielkiano, excudit Cizae [Zeitz] Fridemannus Hetstedt, 1678. Small 4to. 4 leaves, 72 p. Second edition of this useful survey of the topics and problems of Oriental philology as applied to the study of the Bible. In this edition however, Cellarius added a glossary of Arabic words through which unknown Hebrew derivations may be explained.An attractively printed work, the glossary with a basmala in woodcut but otherwise presented in fine Arabic, Syriac, Hebrew, and Samaritan types. Schnurrer p. 8; not in Zenker. The last two pages contain a summary of the Samaritan language with a reading exercise from Deut. 29 & 30, and may well have been Cellarius' earliest efforts in the field in which he was to excel; but this work is not listed in Crown. Le Long-Masch II/1 53 record another edition in 1683 but do not mention this one.Moreover, this work and a Syriac grammar published by Cellarius in 1677 are among the first works printed in Zeitz, according to Deschamps

Hebrew-English Paleo Exodus: Scripture At The End Of The Iron II Period (Ancient Near Eastern Texts and Studies) by David Phillips (Editor) Hardcover: 339 pages Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press (September 30, 2004) Language: English ISBN: 0773463151

Israel Kingdom Scriptures with Bible Chronology. (ISBN:0934666474)
Dryburg, Betty Jane.
(Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.) Price: US$ 7.94
Book Description: Artisan Publishers, 2004. 48 pages. All Scriptures that relate to God's people Israel, their Identity, and God's Covenants to Israel can be found in this highly informative little book. Includes a brief Old Testament Chronology based on the Septuagint System and confirmed by the Samaritan Hebrew Text and archaeology. Brand new paperback.
Abraham to Allenby
Owen, G. Frederick  Price: US$ 10.00 Book Description: Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.: Eerdmans, pp. 78-109 which talks of "the rise of the Samaritans" 350 pp., illustrated including photo-plates. Binding is Cloth.

ANNUAL OF THE SWEDISH THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE [Vol. VI, 1967-68].
Kosmala, Hans: (Hamburg, D, Germany) Price: US$ 25.05 Book Description: Edited in collaboration with GILLIS GERLEMAN, GÖSTA LINDESKOG and H. S. NYBERG, by HANS KOSMALA. Leiden.Brill., 1968. 134 S. 24 x 16,5 cm. Kl. Vorbes.-Stempel auf Titelrückseite, ansonsten gut erhalten. OLn. Einband ordentlich in Schutzfolie gezogen. Contents: Annual Report 1967/68 (by HANS KOSMALA). -- ANDERSON, G. W., Johannes Lindblom's Contribution to Biblical Studies. -- SAWYER, JOHN F. A., Spaciousness. -- COGGINS, R. J., The Old Testament and Samaritan Origins. -- LEIVESTAD, RAGNAR, Der Apokalyptische Menschensohn ein theologisches Phantom. -- SCHALIT, ABRAHAM, Die "herodianischen" Patriarchen und der #davidische" Herodes. -- BAMMEL, ERNST, Der Tod Jesu in einer "Toledoth Jeschu"-Überlieferung. -- KOSMALA, HANS, The Time of the Cock-Crow
 The Samaritan Origins and Identity (ISBN:8987036243)
Choon Shik, Chang. (Coimbatore, TN, India) Price: US$ 26.00 Book Description: PaiChai University Publishers, Korea, 2004. Paperback. Book Condition: New. Preface~ Abbreviations~ Introduction~ Chapter I. II Kings 17 and the traditional view of Samaritan origins in an Exile~ II. Samaritan origins in Archaeology~ III. Samaritan origins in the writings of the old testament~ IV. Samaritan origins in the elephantine Papyri~ V. Samaritan origins in the writings of Josephus~ VI. Samaritan origins in the Rabbinical Literature~ VII. Samaritan origins in the early Christian writings~ Conclusion~ Bibliography~ Index of Authors.~.
 The Books and the Parchments: Some Chapters on the Transmission of the Bible (ISBN:0800700325) Book Description: Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1963, Old Tappan, New Jersey, 1963. Hard Cover. 7¾" - 9¾" tall-----The books and the parchments, The bible and the alphabet, The Hebrew language, The Aramaic language, The Greek language, The two testaments, The form of the bible, The canon of scripture, The test of the old testament, The Samaritan Pentateuch, the Targums, The old testament in Greek, The apocryphal books, The test of the new testament, The Syriac bible, the Latin bible, Other early versions, The English bible, Appendixes

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