Research Interests
I am a scholar of ancient Judaism whose research bridges religious studies, archaeology, Near Eastern studies, and classics. My book, Land and Temple, examines the agrarian dimensions of the Second Temple Jewish priesthood, arguing that it was a diffuse, clan-based institution deeply embedded in the subsistence economy of ancient Judea. My current book project, The Jerusalem Games, examines the quadrennial festival that Herod established in Jerusalem in 28 BCE in honor of Augustus. I argue that the games were theologically coherent within indigenous Jewish traditions of providence and sacred kingship, allowing Jews to engage with Herod’s imperial festival in meaningful religious terms. I am also investigating the relationship between early Jewish practices of ritual immersion and Greco-Roman hydrotherapeutics, and I have co-edited a two-volume excavation report on the predominantly Jewish residential quarter of Roman-period Sepphoris, Israel.
Fields
Ancient Judaism; Religion and Material Culture; Archaeology of Israel-Palestine in the Greco-Roman Period; Second Temple Jerusalem
Teaching
Myth in the Ancient Near East; Israel in the Biblical Age; Archaeology of Israel-Palestine; History of God; Jerusalem: History and Imagination; Religion and Sports
Education & Training
PhD, Duke University, 2013
MA, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2008
BA, College of William and Mary, 1999
“Judean Social Classes.” In Behind the Scenes of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts, edited by Bruce W. Longenecker, Elizabeth E. Shively, and T. J. Lang. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 195–202 (2024).
“The Festival City: Jerusalem after Herod’s Games in Honor of Augustus.” In Eretz Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies, Vol. 35: Hillel Geva Volume, edited by Oren Gutfeld, Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, Amihai Mazar, and Orit Peleg-Barkat. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, 69*–78* (2024).
“Royal Benefaction and Ritual Agency at the Jerusalem Temple in the Late Hellenistic Period.” Biblische Notizen 200:51–75 (2024).
“The Archaeology of the Second Temple Period in Judea: New Discoveries and Research.” In Jewish Studies on Premodern Periods, edited by Carl S. Ehrlich and Sara R. Horowitz. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter, 123–148 (2023).
“Archaeology.” In The Routledge Handbook of Jewish Ritual and Practice, edited by Oliver Leaman. London; New York: Routledge, 59–70 (2022).
“Health and the Origins of the Miqveh.” Journal of Ancient Judaism 11:418–459 (2020).
Land and Temple: Field Sacralization and the Agrarian Priesthood of Second Temple Judaism. Studia Judaica 87. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter (2020).
“Sightseeing and Spectacle at the Jewish Temple.” AJS Review 43/2:271–292 (2019).
“Samuel and Saul at Gilgal: A New Interpretation of the Elephant Mosaic Panel at the Late Antique Synagogue of Huqoq, Israel.” Journal of Roman Archaeology 31/2:524–541. With Zeev Weiss (2018).
The Architecture, Stratigraphy, and Artifacts of the Western Summit of Sepphoris. Duke Sepphoris Excavations 3 (2 vols.). University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns. Co-edited with Eric M. Meyers and Carol L. Meyers (2018).