Herb wrote:
>That is an impressive list-- how many of the names are certain and not
>reconstructions and not just partially visible?
With one and a half exceptions I concur with Greg's list.
>3 Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BCE). 4Q448, 4Q523.
>1 Demetrius III (88 BCE). 4QpNah.
Although this is only [deme]trius, it is extremely difficult to find anything else
that could possibly fit the context, especially in the context of another Seleucid
king (Antiochus). Whether it is Demetrius III or an earlier king is another matter.
>2 Alexandra Salome (76-67 BCE). 4QMishC.
>1 Hyrcanus II 'the king' (67 [or 63-40] BCE). 4QMishC.
>2 Aemilius Scaurus (65 [or 63 or 62] BCE). 4QMishC.
>1 Peitholaus (55-53 BCE). 4Q468e.
I understand the will to believe this is Peitholaus, yet the tiny fragment which
contains it actually has what we would normally read pwtl'ys, which the editor,
Broshi, transcribes as "Potlais" and attempts to relate it to a certain Ptollas at
the time of Archelaus. Now we have a newer analysis which wants to relate the name
with the Hasmonean general, Peitholaus, depending on the yod/waw confusion known
from other Qumran texts. However, as can be seen from the following transliteration,
]s.... [
h]rwg 't rwb hgbr[ym
]pwtl'ys whnp$ '$r .[
there are three other waws in the text, all of which are similar to the second
letter visible in the last line, while the sixth letter, shown here as a yod, is
extremely short and extremely fine. It's rather hard not to view the second letter
as anything other than a waw, like the other three. It's hard to view that sixth
letter as anything other than a yod as things stand now -- though Yardeni calls it a
"waw (yod?)" in Broshi's analysis.
With only these two lines and no historical context with which to make sense of the
unidentified name pwtl'ys, I think people have been grasping at straws over this
tiny fragment. I don't feel much for arguments from silence, like, "there is no
better candidate available, so this one must be right".
Ian
For private reply, e-mail to "Ian Hutchesson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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