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RE: orion An Archeleus-era historical allusion?


	Regarding the Broshi article with the Ptollas/Potlais name 
	identification, I think now this name identification is a mistake.
	Yardeni's reading in 4Q468g is:
			PWTL'YS, "Potlais"
	The claimed name identification in Josephus is "Ptollos".  The
	Hebrew reading in 4Q468g is supposed to be a transcription of
	the Greek name Ptollos.  But I do not see how a Greek name
	beginning with "Pt-" would be transcribed in Hebrew as PWT-.
	In DJD XXV, p. 206, the name Ptolemy is attested in 4Q578.
	The Hebrew transcription is PTL-.  Note no vowel between P and T.
	A note on the same page gives several other attestations of the 
	name "Ptolemy" in Hebrew in inscriptions.  In every case the Hebrew
	is PT- (except for one case in which it was simply T-), without 
	intervening vowel.  Unless an attestation of a Hebrew transcription 
	of a _Greek_ Pt- name can be shown with a vowel between P and T, 
	I do not see how it is plausible to identify the 4Q468g name with 
	the name Ptollas, Archeleus's friend.  
	It seems to me the name in fact is "Peitholaus", the name of
	a Jewish general active in the 50's BCE (War 1.162, 172, 180), by
	coincidence in the same chronological frame as the other names
	known from 4QMishC.  The second letter of the 4Q468g name, the
	vowel, appears to me to read better as Yod rather than Yardeni's
	Waw.
	Naturally I am interested in evaluations from others who do not have
	an hypothesis at issue as I do.  But this is how it looks to me.

	On a separate matter, regarding James Strange and the ostracon,
	as one who played a role I would like to offer this comment.  It all
	started with a post of mine on orion in which I misunderstood 
	Strange's published find information and characterized it wrongly.
	Goranson contacted Strange who graciously provided clarification 
	and (as I recall) answered further questions in detail.  I
appreciated Strange's answers to my questions as well as SG for obtaining it
	for orion, and I fully accept Strange's account, which came across
	to me as completely straightforward.

	Greg Doudna
	Copenhagen