BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//events.la.psu.edu//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20201101T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20200308T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:3049-3fd67f6713dff46d8c403d2040de65c6@events.la.psu.edu DTSTAMP:20260504T073651Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231009T231500 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231009T124500 SUMMARY:“Rabbis, Scribes, and Sorcerers: Incantations, Script, and Authority in Late Antique Jewish Babylonia,” Simcha Gross DESCRIPTION:\nOne of the major scholarly revolutions in the study of anc ient Judaism is the rejection of outdated binaries that stratified Jews into the scholastic elite and the superstitious masses\, dividing betwee n rabbis and sorcerers. Instead\, recent work offers a more complex port rait\, where diverse social actors engaged in contests over the most eff ective and legitimate forms of prophylactics\, as well as those individu als authorized to perform them. This talk engages these questions throug h three vignettes: a rabbinic tale featuring a Satanic encounter\, the c ontinued discovery of the invocation of rabbis and rabbinic formulae on Aramaic incantation bowls\, and the enigmatic usage of "\;pseudo-scr ipt"\; on roughly a quarter of the incantation bowl corpus.\n\nSimch a Gross is an assistant professor of \;ancient rabbinics in the Depa rtment of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the Jews of the first millennium o f the common era in their Roman\, Sasanian\, and Islamicate contexts. Hi s first book\, Babylonian Jews and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquit y\, is forthcoming later this year (Cambridge University Press 2023). He was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the School of Historical Studies at Princeton University\, an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow\, and will serve as a Fellow at the Israel Institute for Advanced Studies in spring 2024.\n\nA light lu nch will be provided. Register in advance to attend.\n\nFor more details : https://events.la.psu.edu/event/simcha-gross_100923/ X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

One of the majo r scholarly revolutions in the study of ancient Judaism is the rejection of outdated binaries that stratified Jews into the scholastic elite and the superstitious masses, dividing between rabbis and sorcerers. Instea d, recent work offers a more complex portrait, where diverse social acto rs engaged in contests over the most effective and legitimate forms of p rophylactics, as well as those individuals authorized to perform them. T his talk engages these questions through three vignettes: a rabbinic tal e featuring a Satanic encounter, the continued discovery of the invocati on of rabbis and rabbinic formulae on Aramaic incantation bowls, and the enigmatic usage of "pseudo-script" on roughly a quarter of th e incantation bowl corpus.

Simcha Gross is an assistant pro fessor of ancient rabbinics in the Department of Near Eastern Langu ages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania. His research f ocuses on the Jews of the first millennium of the common era in their Ro man, Sasanian, and Islamicate contexts. His first book, Babylonian Je ws and Sasanian Imperialism in Late Antiquity, is forthcoming later this year (Cambridge University Press 2023). He was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the School of H istorical Studies at Princeton University, an Alexander von Humboldt Fou ndation Fellow, and will serve as a Fellow at the Israel Institute for A dvanced Studies in spring 2024.

A light lunch will be provided. R egister in advance to attend.

For more details: https://events.la.psu.e du/event/simcha-gross_100923/

LOCATION:102 Weaver Building END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR