Papers by Roy D . Kotansky
Divine Help for "Moonstruck" Modestus: A Silver Lamella for Epilepsy from the Ancient City of Tlos in Lycia and its Archaeological Context
Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 67, 2024
Demons of the Bath and Solomon's Temple: A Jewish Aramaic Silver Amulet Written in Greek
Le Muséon 138, 2025
The article presents a new silver amulet, of probable third century CE date (letter forms), suppo... more The article presents a new silver amulet, of probable third century CE date (letter forms), supposedly from Jerusalem, that was written in Aramaic and Hebrew but using Greek letters. Inscribed across the width of the small metal scroll, the left side is inscribed mostly with magic symbols, but the right preserves a spell adjuring the demonic spirits of the bath -- a common haunt of dangerous forces -- by invoking the Angel of Adjuration (Shabael). A second adjuration subdues these demons by recalling the magic story (historiola) of King Solomon's controlling the demons in the service of building his Temple, as told in the Testament of Solomon. The amulet, though written in Hebrew and Aramaic but using Greek letters, shows evidence of having been translated into Semitic from a lost Greek original. At the bottom, there appears to be a crude representation of the Temple, with scaffolding and / or demons atop, and on the bottom right a possible depiction of the demonic entity, the worm, Shamir, who ate through solid rock in helping to build the Temple.
Craig A. Evans & Marc Grønbeck-Dam (eds.), 'Ex Oriente Lux' in Second Temple Texts: Eschatology and Heavenly Revelation (Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity 24; The Library of Second Temple Studies 104; London: Bloomsbury / T&T Clark, 2026).
This essay evaluates the historical and textual complexities surrounding Luke 3:23 and Jesus’ bap... more This essay evaluates the historical and textual complexities surrounding Luke 3:23 and Jesus’ baptism, particularly in relation to Jesus’ age at the time of his baptism. The essay focuses on the grammatical and textual difficulties of Luke 3:23.
We see that the absence of the participle “beginning” in some Western-affiliated versions may indicate an early attempt to smooth out the textual corruption. The essay also discusses the use of gospel harmonies by early Christian writers like Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria, who seem to have used texts that included both “beginning” and “coming” in reference to Jesus’ baptism. Kotansky proposes a reconstruction of
the original structure of Luke 3:23, suggesting that the verse originally had a two-part chronological schema that was corrupted in the manuscript tradition. It posits that Jesus’ age at the start of his ministry was twelve, based on the preceding story in Luke 2:41-51, and that he taught or preached until he was thirty. The implications of this new reading for the chronology of Jesus and John the Baptist suggest an earlier date for the baptism of Jesus and a reevaluation of the traditional timelines established by the gospels. This alternative chronology might be corroborated by the Gospel of the Ebionites as recorded by Epiphanius, the Middle English Pepysian 'Harmony,' and by Christian texts from the Tang dynasty of China, which provides a different historical context for the ministry of John the Baptist and may support a backdating of his ministry to accommodate Jesus’s baptism at a younger age.
K. Endreffy, C. A. Faraone, and H. R. Goette, 2025
The Phylactery of Moses is a copper amulet (lamella) found in Acre, Sicily.
Early Christianity 15, 2024
The Secret Gospel of Mark (Mar Saba 65), which scholars argue alternately is an elaborate modern ... more The Secret Gospel of Mark (Mar Saba 65), which scholars argue alternately is an elaborate modern forgery or a genuine gospel fragment, is here examined to show unnoticed inconsistencies in the layout of the text that point unequivocally to authenticity. Two passages whose present order yields little sense, once restored, elucidate the true meaning of a text otherwise lost to the manuscript tradition. By simply switching a pair of sentences, especially a cryptic sequence regarding Jesus’s ordering of a young man (νεανίσκος), raised like Lazarus (John 11), we discover that the youth is being commanded to return to the garden of Gethsemane dressed in the very funeral shroud (σινδών) that Jesus himself will be buried in. The νεανίσκος will thus be identical to the mysterious figure found in Mark14:51–52, who in abandoning his garment, will foreshadow Jesus’s own resurrection.
James R. Harrison and Randolph Richards (eds.), Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 10. Series ed. Craig A. Evans, et al. , 2024
Overview of ancient amulets and their role in study of the NT
Inscriptions, Papyri, and Other Artifacts, James R. Harrison and E. Randolph Richards (eds.) in Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies, ed. Craig A. Evans, et al., 2024
Introduction to the Greek Magical Papyri and the New Testament
Magic and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Studies in Honor of Christopher A. Faraone, edited by Radcliffe G. Edmonds, III, Carolina López-Ruiz and Sofía Torallas-Tovar, 2024
A bronze pendant, said to come from Sicily and now part of the collection in the National Archaeo... more A bronze pendant, said to come from Sicily and now part of the collection in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid (acc. No. 1916/31/7), has recently been published as a valuable addition to a previously known cluster of five related pieces all "united by similarities in their inscribed apotropaic figures and Greek texts." 1 These circular medallions, of fourth or fifth century ce date (or later), have not heretofore been studied as a group but all appear to come from Sicily and share almost identical inscriptions, leading the editors to suggest a common source behind the texts. 2 In this study, I take the opportunity of examining in greater detail the lengthy process of how these divergent texts on bronze came to be copied from a single source, in this case an apparent papyrus model (Vorlage) of Levantine origin, and the manner in which their transcriptions wound up being preserved on a group of roundels from Sicily. Although the original pattern-book from which the individual texts emanated has long vanished, certain details of the Madrid bronze exemplar, in particular, hint at the transmissional process that lay behind the historical transferal of the other bronze medallions from papyrus original to applied metal amulet. These details also work towards understanding how the talismans spread geographically from East to West. The commonality of figure and text on these medallions can be described as follows, even though the collection ultimately divides into two distinct subsets. One set of the bronzes, to which the Madrid example belongs, shares a mutually unintelligible formula, επηνα συμαηαο, followed by a magic name, Σαλαμαξα (+ βαμεαζα), along with three "Z-shaped" symbols and a garbled matrilineal formation ("protect so-and-so whom so-and-so bore"), preserving divergent personal 1 Zellmann-Rohrer and Martínez-Chico 2021, 62. We share with the scholarly world our profound gratitude for the authors' exceptional work in deciphering this difficult text in their editio princeps. 2 Zellmann-Rohrer and Martínez-Chico 2021, 65 (see further notes later). The previously published examples of these medallions, as noted by Zellmann-Rohrer and Martínez-
Le Muséon 136, 2023
A recently published magic silver tablet for epilepsy, invoking protection by amulets for "Alexan... more A recently published magic silver tablet for epilepsy, invoking protection by amulets for "Alexander also called Macedon," has been interpreted as a reference to the name of the bearer of the charm, with only passing mention of Alexander the Great. In the present article, the author offers in its entirety the manuscript of an unpublished article, written by the late David Jordan more than twenty years ago, of the very same amulet, that provides different readings, an archetype, and analysis that affirms the connection of the tablet with the Alexander of history. In the present study, the main author confirms Jordan's overall interpretation of the amulet, tenders a revised model, and presents a new translation of the whole. This is followed by an analysis of the records of an illness ensuing Alexander the Great's emersion from the river Cydnus at Tarsus that no doubt contributed to the later, largely Semitic, understanding of the king's battling a "spirit of epilepsy."
Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, 2021
The present study examines two gold amulet capsules (unopened) and four gold sheets (lamellae), i... more The present study examines two gold amulet capsules (unopened) and four gold sheets (lamellae), inscribed in Greek, that were recovered from rescue operations of gravefields at ancient Juliopolis in Bithynia. The finds ,which come from three separate Chamosoria (rock-carved cistern) tombs (118, 139, and 190) and one chamber tomb (138) from the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, spotlight the Judaeo-Christian inscriptions addressed to the monotheistic God on each of the four unrolled gold "scrolls," presented here as first editions. Based upon the absence of specified diseases and named persons on the gold tablets, as well as the remarkable invocation of Dionysus as Baccheus of Nysa alongside the Hebrew ABRAÔTH on the largest of the metal plaques, it is suggested that these talismans, which were deposited with the dead, served as "passports" for the deceased in the manner of the classical "Orphic"-Dionysian gold tablets. Inherent Jewish and Christian elements found on the sheets further bind the group of diverse finds to a common religio-magic textual milieu.
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 112, 2022
The so-called "Orphic" gold tablets contain both celestial and netherwordly orientations of the H... more The so-called "Orphic" gold tablets contain both celestial and netherwordly orientations of the Hereafter. Their eschatological worldview admits primarily a heavenly landscape, as indicated by the shorter, and originally older, exemplars (like the 4th cent. BCE Getty 'Thessalian' tablet), exemplars that preserve a primordial, almost 'shamanistic' dialogue between the deceased Soul and the life-giving Spring. To this briefer, celestial model later, more philosophically-based, bricoleurs spun out longer, hexametric compositions, including instructions that developed a secondary Lake (of Oblivion / Forgetfullness) to be eschewed, vis-à-vis the original Spring, now turned into a source of Memory and a means of recalling the reincarnated Soul in the manner of Pythagorean beliefs in metempsychosis.
Le Muséon 135, 2022
A rare aquamarine hexagonal prism, of unknown provenance, preserves on its six faces portions of ... more A rare aquamarine hexagonal prism, of unknown provenance, preserves on its six faces portions of apparent magical words and names, ending with a legible prayer in Greek, "Holy Power, help me!" A closer examination of the formulas shows that the pristine, engraved letters preserve fragments of a bilingual (or trilingual) lexicon, giving translations (hermêneiai) of Greek terms in Hebrew (and Aramaic), copied in Greek. Marginal glosses have also been inadvertently copied back into the text. The transcription was formerly duplicated from a papyrus manual without understanding the textual content of the original model, taking the words as unintellible magical names. Although the bead itself came from India, the gem was probably engraved in Alexandria.
Gods, Spirits, and Worship in the Greco-Roman World and Early Christianity, Craig A. Evans and Adam Z. Smith (ed.), Jewish and Christian Texts in Context and Related Studies 36 (London: T&T Clark / Bloomsbury, 2022), 165-199 , 2022
More than fi ft y years ago in a landmark study, Robert H. Gundry explicated the meaning of the f... more More than fi ft y years ago in a landmark study, Robert H. Gundry explicated the meaning of the famous Christological hymn of 1 Tim. 3:16 in a thoroughgoing fashion by fi rst analyzing the various strophic confi gurations proff ered for the composition, then off ering a trenchant exegesis of the individual lines, and fi nally grounding the confession within its larger theological and historical milieu. 1 His lasting contribution was to explain the meaning of the hymn's sequential layout as a depiction of Jesus's working through various spatial environments: Earth (lines 1, 4-5)-Underworld (2-3)-and Heaven (6), in order to show a largely Judean-based theology absent the cross but conspicuous for its "theology of cosmic triumph over the 'angels. ' " 2 Th ough written a half century ago, the enduring nature of Gundry's work is testament to the full-dress character of his exegetical and theological rigor. In the analysis presented here, we pay homage to Gundry's work by adopting his three-pronged approach as a springboard for updating some recent work and introduce an entirely new set of rhetorical and theological proposals that aim to bring the whole hymn into fresh light within its own cultural milieu. 3 Th e hymn is introduced by the phrase "By common confession, great is the secret (τὸ μυστήριον) of piety, " followed by the introductory relative pronoun ὅς , which does not form part of the hymn proper: 4
Early Christianity 12, 2021
Review article of Jeff W. Childers, Divining Gospel: Oracles of Interpretation in a Syriac Manusc... more Review article of Jeff W. Childers, Divining Gospel: Oracles of Interpretation in a Syriac Manuscript of John (Manuscripta Biblica 4; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2020), xi + 230 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-061721-4.
in David Saunders (ed.), UNDERWORLD: Imagining the Afterlife in Ancient South Italian Vase Painting (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2021), 2021
A re-examination of the 'Orphic' gold leaves, starting with the Getty B-text from Thessaly, shows... more A re-examination of the 'Orphic' gold leaves, starting with the Getty B-text from Thessaly, shows that Zuntz's view that the shorter B-texts from Crete represented the older prototype to which the earlier ms. versions of the longer B-group had added material is correct. A closer look at the dialogic nature of the Getty text points to an aboriginal dialogue between the life-giving Spring and the deceased 'initiate.' To this archetypal version, the bricoleurs added, often incongruently, material relative to a second source of water (a 'Spring of Forgetfulness') to create a more complex philosophical eschatology of metempsychosis.
Silver magic lamella, 3.94 x 2.60 cm (inv. 30664), in Berlin, acquired in 1917 from the widow of ... more Silver magic lamella, 3.94 x 2.60 cm (inv. 30664), in Berlin, acquired in 1917 from the widow of German diplomat in Israel and Syria, Julius Loeytved-Hardegg (1874-1917). Roman period amulet with magic names, moon / stars, including IAREOBAZ, IAO SABAOTH IAIOTH, ... IAIA IAO HO ON ("Iaia Iao, the-One-Who-Is" = Ex. 3:14) + Tetragrammaton IHIH, etc.
Co-authored with Jaime Curbera / Barbara Niemeyer
Early Christianity, 2021
A ceramic cup recovered in 2006 during maritime explorations of Alexandria is thought to record a... more A ceramic cup recovered in 2006 during maritime explorations of Alexandria is thought to record a reference to Christ as a "sorcerer". Dated to ca. the 1st cent. BCE / 1st cent CE, a modestly restored version of the text more likely preserves a gnomic phrase, "By a creditor is the complainer!" Or, "By a usurer (comes) the grumbler!" -- a reading that has nothing to do with magic. Analogies with ancient "drinking songs" (skolia) are examined that often promote such sayings. Other examples, introduced in passing, include the famed Nestor's Cup inscription, which may also be proverbial, and a mimic composition finely etched on a painted glass beaker (also possibly from Alexandria) that preserves fragments of a scene, with text. Plausible lyric features of the gnomic cup are also examined.
Uploads
Papers by Roy D . Kotansky
We see that the absence of the participle “beginning” in some Western-affiliated versions may indicate an early attempt to smooth out the textual corruption. The essay also discusses the use of gospel harmonies by early Christian writers like Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria, who seem to have used texts that included both “beginning” and “coming” in reference to Jesus’ baptism. Kotansky proposes a reconstruction of
the original structure of Luke 3:23, suggesting that the verse originally had a two-part chronological schema that was corrupted in the manuscript tradition. It posits that Jesus’ age at the start of his ministry was twelve, based on the preceding story in Luke 2:41-51, and that he taught or preached until he was thirty. The implications of this new reading for the chronology of Jesus and John the Baptist suggest an earlier date for the baptism of Jesus and a reevaluation of the traditional timelines established by the gospels. This alternative chronology might be corroborated by the Gospel of the Ebionites as recorded by Epiphanius, the Middle English Pepysian 'Harmony,' and by Christian texts from the Tang dynasty of China, which provides a different historical context for the ministry of John the Baptist and may support a backdating of his ministry to accommodate Jesus’s baptism at a younger age.
Co-authored with Jaime Curbera / Barbara Niemeyer