Corpus-Paul

[kraft AT ccat.sas.upenn.edu (Robert Kraft)]

Forwarded message:
> From "Dr. Allen Kerkeslager" <akerkesl AT mailhost.sju.edu>
> Subject Re: Ancient Location(s) for Sinai
> 
> Dear Bob,
> 
> I do not know who your interlocutor is, but I can add some details and the
> publication data for my article. As far as the location of Mt. Sinai, I
> argue that Jews in the Greco-Roman period, probably from at least as early
> as ca. 250 BCE, believed that Mt.  Sinai was located near the city of
> Madyan, which can be firmly identified with the modern town of Al-Bad' in
> northwestern Saudi Arabia.  (Thus I do not follow those who place it near
> Petra; if anything, Petra might be close to the location of Kadesh, not
> Mt. Sinai.  But I prefer to leave the question of the location of Kadesh
> open).  Since Philo (implicitly) and Josephus (explicitly) says that Mt.
> Sinai is the highest mountain near Madyan, one might propose that Jebel
> al-Lawz, which is the highest mountain near Al-Bad', was identified with
> Mt. Sinai.  Some interesting finds have been discovered at Jebel al-Lawz,
> but unfortunately nothing has been published on it by a professional
> archaeologist. 
> 
> For more on this, see: 
> 
> Allen Kerkeslager, "Jewish Pilgrimage and Jewish Identity in Hellenistic
> and Early Roman Egypt," in <Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique
> Egypt> (ed. David Frankfurter; Religions of the Graeco-Roman World 134;
> Leiden: Brill, 1998) 99-225, especially pp. 146-213 on pilgrimage to Mt.
> Sinai. 
> 
> You should note that this includes a discussion of the term "Arabia" that
> might be helpful.  You should also note that since my field is not Hebrew
> Bible, the survey of texts from the Hebrew Bible does not include anything
> like a full and nuanced discussion of all the secondary literature.  I
> hope that this is helpful.  Someone informed me that there is a recent
> article by Frank Cross in a collection he produced that might address this
> issue.
> 
> Allen Kerkeslager
> Saint Joseph's University
> akerkesl AT sju.edu

-- 
Robert A. Kraft, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
227 Logan Hall (Philadelphia PA 19104-6304); tel. 215 898-5827
kraft AT ccat.sas.upenn.edu
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html