Jan Dušek, Les Manuscrits Araméens du Wadi Daliyeh et La Samarie vers 450–332 av. J.-C. (CHANE, 30), Brill, Leiden-Boston 2007, XXI+700 pages.
Jan Dušek,The Aramean Manuscripts of Wadi Daliyeh and Samarie towards 450-332 B.C.

Summary/Abstract: In 1962 Bedouin discovered a number of papyri from Samaria in the Mug˙a￣rat Abu￣ Šingˇa, a cave of the Wadi Daliyeh, ca. 20 km. north-west of Jericho. The cave was cleared in 1963 and 1964 by P.W. Lapp. Beside the fragments of almost forty Aramaic legal documents, dated between 375/365 and 335/332 B.C., the finds included over 200 skeletons, jewellery, coins, seals of documents. The people of the cave seem to have hidden there during the Samaritan revolt against Alexander the Great and appear to have perished in a Macedonian attack. The editio princeps of the Aramaic papyri, published in 2001 by D.M. Gropp,1 is followed at present by a minute analysis of all the manuscripts, of the legends of seal impressions and coins, and by a study of their historical background. This comprehensive work is due to Jan Dušek, who succeeded in improving the general presentation of the epigraphic material, as well as the reading and interpretation of some passages. The book is divided in three main parts, respectively presenting the progress of the research (5–62), a careful study of all the papyri (65–437), and a reconstruction of their historical context (441–607). It closes with a glossary (611–618), where the legends of the coins are unfortunately missing, with a palaeographic table for wdsp 1, 2, 3, and 10 (620–621), a bibliography (623–638), an index of ancient sources (639–648) and modern authors (647–649), a general index of subjects (650–657), and photographic plates (661–700).

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