The Levantini Podcast

Haggai Olshanetsky is a historian and archaeologist focusing on the Hellenistic and Roman periods at the University of Warsaw. He came on the show to discuss his research arguing that the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome, otherwise known as the Bar Kokhba Revolt, may have had more than one leader, specifically Jewish veterans of the Roman army, and it was only later that Bar Kokhba assumed leadership of the revolt. 

Here is a link ...

Baruch Halpern discusses his book David’s Secret Demons: Messiah, Murderer, Traitor, King. The book examines the textual and archaeological evidence of David to help paint a better picture of his life, reign, and impact. The first episode focuses on the origins of David and his part in overthrowing the House of Saul. The second episode covers the Absalom Revolt and Solomon’s rise to power. There’s a link above to purchase the book.

...

Baruch Halpern discusses his book David’s Secret Demons: Messiah, Murderer, Traitor, King. The book examines the textual and archaeological evidence of David to help paint a better picture of his life, reign, and impact. This second episode covers the Absalom Revolt and Solomon’s rise to power. The first episode covers David's origins and his role in overthrowing the House of Saul. There’s a link above to purchase the book. 

Ba...

Tal Ilan is a retired professor of Jewish studies at the Free University, Berlin (Germany), and has researched the Diaspora Revolt of 115-117 CE against the Romans that broke out across Libya, Egypt and Cyprus. The rebellion is less well known than the two other Jewish revolts against Rome, namely the Great Revolt which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple and the Bar Kochba Revolt. The Diaspora Revolt had disastrous co...

Seth Schwartz is a professor of classical Jewish civilization at Columbia University and the author of Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 BCE to 640 CE. The book examines the effects of Persian, Greek, and Roman rule of Jewish society in antiquity and how it shaped Jewish life and identity. Episode 1 focuses on the return of Judahite exiles from Persia and the establishment of the Torah of Moses as the official law code of the peo...

Seth Schwartz is a professor of classical Jewish civilization at Columbia University and the author of Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 BCE to 640 CE. The book examines the effects of Persian, Greek, and Roman rule of Jewish society in antiquity and how it shaped Jewish life and identity. Episode 2 discusses the impacts of the Hasmonean territorial expansion as well as how Judaism was transformed following the failed revolts aga...

Aren Meir and Sue Frumin come back on the show to discuss a paper they co-authored that examined plant-related Philistine ritual practices at Tell Es-Safi, which is believed to be the biblical Gath. You can find a link to the study here.  Aren is a professor at Bar Ilan University and director of the Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project. His research has a particular focus on the Bronze and Iron Ages of the ancient Near East. S...

Liane Feldman discusses her book The Consuming Fire, which presents a complete translation of the Priestly Source of the Bible, offering a distinctive account of the origins of the people of Israel and their relationship with God.  By presenting the complete translation of the Priestly Source without the other sources that are believed to also be part of the compiled Bible as we have it today, the reader is presented with a story t...

In this episode of the podcast, Abigail Krasner Balbale discusses her book The Wolf King: Ibn Mardanish and the Construction of Power in Al Andalus. The Wolf King explores how political power was conceptualized, constructed, and wielded in twelfth-century al-Andalus, focusing on the reign of Muhammad ibn Sad ibn Ahmad ibn Mardanīsh also known as The Wolf King. 

Abigail is an Assistant Professor of Islamic History at New York Univers...

Dr. Shamam Waldman discusses a recent paper she co-authored with her colleagues at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem that was published in the journal Cell. The study was an effort to sequence the DNA from the remains of Ashkenazi Jews in medieval Europe and focused on a DNA analysis that was done on the extracted teeth of individuals who were buried in a Jewish cemetery in Erfurt, Germany around the 14th century. The findings of ...

Professor Gary Rendsburg comes back on the podcast to discuss his book How The Bible Is Written. The book examines the literary aspects of the Hebrew biblical text and highlights the artistry and skill of the biblical authors. How The Bible Is Written is available in a number of stores, including in-person at Barnes & Noble and online at the links below:

- Barnes & Noble
- Book Depository
- HendrickSonrose<...

Hannah-Lena Hagemann is based in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Hamburg University, where she leads a research group on rebellion in early Islam. She is the author of The Kharijites in Early Islamic Historical Tradition which is the first comprehensive literary analysis of the Kharijites’ history as depicted in early Islamic historiography. The book provides a new perspective on early Kharijism and explores their narrati...

Professor Yosef Garfinkel is a Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Yigael Yadin Chair in Archaeology of Israel. In 2021 he was one of the authors of a study published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology which examines how the Assyrian army laid siege to the town of Lachish in Judah in 701 BC. Specifically, the study examines how the Assyrian army constructed an impressive siege ramp in under a mo...

Professor Benjamin Sommer is an American biblical scholar and Jewish theologian. He’s a Professor of Bible at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America and a Senior Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. Professor Sommer is the author of the book Revelation & Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition, which examines how the biblical authors conceived of the revelation at Sinai as both a collaborative and participator...

Andrea Berlin is the James R. Wiseman Chair in Classical Archaeology and a Professor of Archaeology and Religion at Boston University. Her research focuses on the archaeology and history of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, and Roman East, Ceramic Studies, Second-Temple Judaism, and the archaeology of Israel. In this episode, we discuss the book The Middle Maccabees of which she is a co-editor and a contributing author. The book examine...

Professor Boaz Zissu is an archaeologist and a member of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University. He has authored and collaborated on numerous studies of the Bar Kokhba Revolt including co-authoring the book The Bar Kokhba Revolt: The Archaeological Evidence. We discuss the background to the revolt, its scale and administration, and its ultimate demise. You can purchase a copy ...