Ancient Jewish History

In Library Only:

• Judaic Classics Library - Davka. (Access on YULIS PCs in the Library only. Click START on lower left corner of desktop and select Davka.)

Online Resources:

• Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project - Comprehensive in that it takes into account all of ancient Aramaic, including, for example, the Aramaic translations of the Bible. So, it provides verse by verse displays with lexical analysis of the  various targums, in addition to the usual dictionary searches.
• Early Jewish Writings - Provides the text of the Bible in English in the King James and JPS (1917) translations; apocryphal and pseudepigraphical literature, Philo’s writings, Josephus’ works all in English translation; Rodkinson’s partial English translation of Talmud Bavli.  For each, links to online and offline resources are added.
• Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities: Life of Adam and Eve - For each of the narrative units of this group of pseudepigraphical works English translations are provided (but the links to the texts in the original languages are broken at present).
• Internet Sacred Text Archive - Provides the vowelled text of the Hebrew Bible (based on the Leningrad Codex) which will display only in unicode, with facing English transliteration; a variety of Mishnaic, Midrashic and Talmudic texts in translation; Isidor Kalisch’s edition and translation of Sefer Yetzirah.                
• Targum in English - Provides an English translation of the ancient Aramaic translation of the Biblical books of Ruth and Lamentations as well as images of an important manuscript of the latter. 
• Tyndale House Residential Centre for Biblical Research - Enormous collection of links to online primary and secondary resources on Biblical and Second Temple subjects. No short description can do justice to the variety and number of resources gathered here.  A special note must be made of their “2 Letter Lookup” – an online dictionary which provides all possible Biblical words and their definitions on the basis of their first two letters so you do not have to worry about which letters form part of the root of the word.  Available languages in this lexicon are: Hebrew/Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Akkadian and Arabic. 

•  Academy for Ancient Texts - Provides Westcott’s English translation of Sefer Yetzirah and R.H. Charles’ English translation of the Ethiopic book of Enoch.
•  Eliezer Segal’s Jewish Mysticism and Kabbalah - Provides selections in English translation from some primary sources on early mystical works. Note the interactive “Ascent to the Merkabah.” 
• Hermetic Kabbalah - Provides a wide selection of ancient texts in translation, including: Genesis Rabbah, Sword of Moses, Talmud Bavli, Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer, Ethiopian and Slavonic books of Enoch, Hekhalot Rabbati, Shi’ur Komah, 3 Enoch, Sefer Yetzirah. Background material for each.
• M. Alan Kazlev’s Kabbalah - Provides an English translation of Lambert’s French translation of Sefer Yetzirah with excerpts in translation of Rav Sa’adia Gaon’s commentary together with secondary material on Sefer Yetzirah.

Philo and Josephus:

• Josephus in French translation - The Reinach-Weil edition and translation originally published 1900-1932.
• PACE: project on Ancient Cultural Engagement, York University - Parallel Greek-English text of Josephus. Interesting feature: comparative list and synoptic display of Josephan texts which discuss the same topics.
• Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University - Outstanding collection of ancient texts. Includes the works of Josephus in Greek and in English translation in searchable format. Also has the text of the Latin Vulgate and Greek New Testament.
• Text of Philo’s works - The Cohn-Wendland edition of Philo in Greek as scanned by Google.

• Dead Sea Scrolls Reference Library (cd-rom on xp computers on 5^th floor of the Library) - Images of Dead Sea scroll fragments searchable by: cave number, work and fragment, title, Biblical passage, inventory number. For each, it provides the Biblical text(s) included in the fragment (if any), related publications, other fragments related to or associated with it.
• Digital Dead Sea Scrolls - A project of the Israel Museum, developed in partnership with Google, “gives users access to searchable, fast-loading, high-resolution images of the scrolls, as well as short explanatory videos and background information on the texts and their history.” So far, the following scrolls have been made available: the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Temple Scroll, the War Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll, and the Commentary of Habakkuk Scroll. The Isaiah Scroll “may be searched by column, chapter, and verse, and is accompanied by an English translation tool and by an option for users to submit translations of verses in their own languages.”
• Dorot Foundation Dead Sea Scrolls Information and Study Center
  From the self-description: "The aim of the Center is to introduce visitors to topics related to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical manuscripts, the Second Temple period,archaeological excavations at Qumran..." At this point, digital versions of the Aleppo Codex, the great Isaiah Scroll and the Temple Scroll are available in a beautiful, crystal clear format. In addition, there is also a virtual tour of the Shrine of the Book.
• The Gnostic Society Library: Dead Sea Scrolls - Includes a handful of texts in English translation. Also provides links to the Library of Congress exhibit on the scrolls, where additional texts are given in translation together with references to relevant literature.

• Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts - From the project’s self-description: “The Catalogue of Digitized Medieval Manuscripts offers a simple and straightforward means to discover medieval manuscripts available on the web. Very much a work in progress, the database will initially provide links to hundreds of manuscripts, which we expect quickly to grow to thousands. Basic information about the manuscripts is fully searchable, and users can also browse through the complete contents of the database. As the project develops, a richer body of information for each manuscript, and the texts in these codices, will be provided, where available.” For example, a search under the term “Philo” returned 16 manuscripts, all of which may be viewed online.
• Digital Scriptorium -  A web-based database of images of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts which provides full cataloging information and a small number of selected images for each manuscript.  A search, for example, for “Josephus” returned 19 results.
• Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Israel - The sections on Hellenistic Judaism: diasporas, religious developments and  Rabbinic Judaism are relevant. For each section there is a selection of linked primary and secondary readings with added notes.