Footnotes

1.

See Hanan Eshel and Eric M. Meyers, “The Pools of Sepphoris—Ritual Baths or Bathtubs?” BAR 26:04.

2.

See, for example, Mark Chancey and Eric M. Meyers, “How Jewish Was Sepphoris in Jesus’ Time?” BAR 26:04.

Endnotes

1.

Eric M. Meyers, Carol L. Meyers and Kenneth G. Hoglund, “Sepphoris (Sippori), 1994,” Israel Exploration Journal 45, no. 1 (1995), p. 69. See also Eric M. Meyers, “Sepphoris on the Eve of the Great Revolt (67–68 C.E.): Archaeology and Josephus,” in Galilee Through the Centuries, Confluence and Cultures, ed. Eric M. Meyers (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1999), p. 109–122.

2.

As Meyers points out, estimates of 40 seahs vary from 60 to 250 gallons. The quantity of water in a seah varied from region to region, according to rabbinic literature; a Jerusalem seah was different from a desert seah (Mishnah Terumah 7.1).

3.

According to Eshel, “Living water … must come directly from a river or a spring or from rainwater that flows into the pool.” According to Meyers, “Rainwater … was a major source of living water.” Both Eshel and Meyers incorrectly regard rainwater as “living water.” BAR 26:04.

4.

See, e.g., Torat Kohanim (Sifra), Shemini, 9. Several passages in the Mishnah examine the problem of how much drawn water disqualifies a mikveh that has less than the required 40 seahs of “living water” from a spring or lake. See, e.g., Mishnah Mikva’ot 2.4.

5.

The term otzar (related to otzer) was used in the late Second Temple period for a storehouse (e.g., an otzar of wood, etc.) and was not applied to mikva’ot until the Middle Ages.

6.

See Meyers, Meyers and Hoglund, “Sepphoris (S|ippori), 1996,” Israel Exploration Journal 47, no. 3–4 (1997), p. 267, fig. 2.