From: ane-digest-owner@oi.uchicago.edu To: ane-digest@oi.uchicago.edu Subject: Ancient Near East Digest V1 #47 Reply-To: ane@oi.uchicago.edu Errors-To: ane-digest-owner@oi.uchicago.edu Precedence: bulk Ancient Near East Digest Thursday, 27 January 1994 Volume 01 : Number 047 In this issue: thanks for address Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast Re: NOAH'S ARK??? Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast Frauds Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast FWD>Jewish Studies Fellowsh Hebrew lexicons Creation by spitting (was vomitting) Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast Ortiz Collection Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast Re: Hebrew lexicons Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast Place names Lexicographica levant AOS program 1/2 See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the ANE or ANE-Digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David Shanen Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 10:25:23 -0500 (EST) Subject: thanks for address My thanks to all of you who sent me an address for Mario Fales; and for the warnings about his poor correspondence history. Michelle Marcus ------------------------------ From: igt Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 15:25:45 +0000 Subject: Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast In message <6720.759597616@aber.ac.uk>, igt writes: >In message <7F891EF787F@mh1.mcc.ac.uk>, Tony Keen writes: > >> In UK scholarship, `Levant' *is* the standard term for the area etc. Sorry I forgot to sign that Ian Tompkins Classical Studies University of Wales Aberystwyth ------------------------------ From: igt Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 15:20:16 +0000 Subject: Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast In message <7F891EF787F@mh1.mcc.ac.uk>, Tony Keen writes: > In UK scholarship, `Levant' *is* the standard term for the area >(as in the British School at Jersusalem's periodical). If it >is avoided by US scholars, I don't know why this should be so. I dispute this, as one with more than a passing interest in the area. What's wrong with "Levant": it smacks of orientalism, evoking images of lithocuts of Petra and Jerusalem, the age of the British mandate, or the Ottoman empire, Lady Hester Stanhope, memoirs of intrepid British travellers visiting the holy city, Sinai, Palmyra, etc., such as Kinglake, where the landscape is defined by fallen pillars, Arabs sitting in flowing robes, etc., officials of the pasha. I tend to use Syria for the whole, but that I suppose is a Roman imperial perspective? I don't think Fergus Millar uses Levant. ------------------------------ From: Seth L Sanders Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 10:23:57 -0500 Subject: Re: NOAH'S ARK??? The very regularly occurring perpetration of frauds, hoaxes, terribly imaginative discoveries strikes me with a twofold aspect. One aspect of this was pointed out by J.Z.Smith in his fascinating and provocative lecture at the SBL (which caused more than one person to leave the room shaking their heads!), namely, that as scholars of religion, we are living in a world where most people we come into contact with (including many of use!) are "natives" of the religion we are studying. Obviously, the ordinary U.S. Fundamentalist housewife and the educated Arab leader are coming at it very differently, but they both have a claim to stake on the traditions of the OT. Smith simply pointed out that when the NY Times does a story on Mesoamerican discoveries, they stress the disagreements among scholars, changes in our understanding of what happened among the Maya, etc, but that the reporting of discoveries in the Holy Land tends to stress their confirmatory nature, "the Bible proved by archaeology." Smith, coming at it from this cold-blooded anthropological perspective, has written elsewhere that the work of a living religion is to keep applying the restricted material of the canon to the wide range of situations in life, and that this application is an act of enormous creativity. Just as many things in Midrash about David are probably not things that really happened at the turn of the first millennium, or even things that anyone could "logically" get out of the bible text, so should we expect that the "discoveries" of culturally interested parties be mixed with varying degrees of (rigorously ordered) invention. Whether or not one agrees with Smith, it is fortunate that we as scholars raise the alarm every time someone tries to pull support for their faith (or wallet) out of nothing. Though it is exactly the same sort of religious act that went on when Egyptian kings "discovered" rituals that they wanted to implement written on what they claimed were ancient tattered scrolls, an act neither more nor less legitimate than selling splinters of the One True Cross to pilgrims in the middle ages, it is nonetheless true that we as philologists and archaeologists have to sort this stuff out before the scholar of religion can get to work. But the history of religion is being written every day, now as then. Seth Sanders, Johns Hopkins ------------------------------ From: Tony Keen Date: 26 Jan 94 16:18:02 GMT Subject: Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast Ian Tompkins writes: > I dispute this, as one with more than a passing interest in > the area. What's wrong with "Levant": it smacks of > orientalism, evoking images of lithocuts of Petra and > Jerusalem, the age of the British mandate, or the Ottoman > empire, Lady Hester Stanhope, memoirs of intrepid British > travellers visiting the holy city, Sinai, Palmyra, etc., such > as Kinglake, where the landscape is defined by fallen pillars, > Arabs sitting in flowing robes, etc., officials of the pasha. > I tend to use Syria for the whole, but that I suppose is a > Roman imperial perspective? > I don't think Fergus Millar uses Levant. I suspect, as far as the Near East is concerned, Ian and I move in somewhat different circles. The Near Easterners I know well, who are almost all interested in the pre-Hellenistic period (mostly, as far as the people I know who work in the area, in the prehistoric or early historic) seem to have no problem with the term and use it regularly. This may not be the case in scholarship on the Roman period. I agree that the word does tend to conjure up a lot of 19th century images. Tony Keen Department of History University of Manchester Oxford Road MANCHESTER M13 9PL UK Tel: (061) 275 3105 (messages only) Fax: (061) 275 3098 `nec te quasiveris extra' - Persius, *Satires* I.7 ------------------------------ From: cejo@midway.uchicago.edu (Charles E. Jones) Date: Wed, 26 Jan 94 10:58:22 CST Subject: Frauds In his recent article: The Past Re-made: the Case of Oriental Carpets. Antiquity. December 1993; 67(257): pages 859-862, Murray Eiland writes that following the publication of _The Goddess from Anatolia_ in 1989 "Almost immediately a wave of enthusiasm directed towards those kilims thought to contain descendants of the Mellaart 'goddess figures'. Kilims that had been a 'hard sell' at $2000 were fetching prices in the vicinity of $50,000 or more" [page 860]. Another case of [in Seth Sanders words] pulling "support for their faith (or wallet) out of nothing". So far I've only seen reviews of this book from the point of view of textile history. Has anyone seen or written reviews of it focussed on it's implications for the history of religion in Anatolia? - -Chuck- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Charles E. Jones Research Archivist - Bibliographer The Oriental Institute - Chicago Voice (312) 702-9537 Fax (312) 702-9853 cejo@midway.uchicago.edu ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ------------------------------ From: "Bernard Knapp" Date: 27 Jan 1994 7:15:30 Subject: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast The use of the term 'Levant' SHOULD be perfectly suitable for prehistoric or historic-periods studies that deal with the area covered by the modern-day, countries with coasts on the Mediterranean: namely Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. But obviously some people have objections. Still others, for various reasons, will find Syria-Palestine objectionable. The use of this term stems at least in part from a desire to replace the outmoded term"Biblical Archaeology" with the less- loaded term "Syro-Palestinian" archaeology. In teaching archaeology courses that deal with the area, for prehistoric and historical periods, I simply substitute the term Eastern Mediterranean archaeology. Admittedly this is more cumbersome than Levantine archaeology, but perhaps there will be less resistance to eastern Mediterranean by all the tradtionalists, anti-colonialists, post-modernists, etc. who are reading this message? I doubt it. ============================================================ A. Bernard Knapp School of History, Philosophy and Politics Macquarie University Sydney NSW 2109 AUSTRALIA PHONE: +61-2-805-9962 FAX: +61-2-805-8892 E-MAIL: BKNAPP@OCS1.OCS.MQ.EDU.AU (Internet) ------------------------------ From: Allan Adler Date: Wed, 26 Jan 94 15:34:03 -0500 Subject: Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum One of the nice things about the catalogues of some museums is that they include bibliographic references pertaining to individual artifacts. In the Louvre-Institut du Monde Arabe catalogue Aux Source du Monde Arabe: l'Arabie avant l'Islam, I find several inscriptions with references to CIS (Corpus Inscritionum Semiticarum). It is not as easy to find them in a public library in Paris (which is where I am at the moment) as it would be in, say, New York [as a friend of mine puts it, the libraries inParis are organized so as to protect the books from anyone who might want to read them]. The Corpus is sold and edited by the Institut des Inscriptions et des Belles Lettres, but they have no facility for looking at them. There is a bookstore, Broccard at 11 rue de Medicis, across from the Jardins du Luxembourg, where in principle one can look at them, but since there are many volumes and they are not downstairs on the shelves, in practice it is a big pain in the takapouli for the owner to have to drag them down to show them. On the other hand, if I could say exactly what volume I wanted to look at, that would not be so much of a problem. Well, what volume do I want to look at? Don't tell me yet, I haven't given you all the information! Here are the references in the catalogue to the CIS: Cat.# page # CIS reference - -------------------------------- AO1128 38 CIS IV 708 AO1029 39 CIS IV 445 AO26599 50 CIS II 336 AO4988 64 CIS II 165 AO4991 65 CIS II 166 AO4992 65 CIS II 170 I think that is all of them, but I might have missed one or two. I am not summarizing or modifying the references in any way. I have copied them out just as they appear in the catalogue. In particular, I don't know any more about them than I have posted here. Now, here is what the catalogue at the bookstore Broccard says about the CIS: CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM SEMITICARUM (Format: Texte 28 x 36 (cm, probably), broch\'e-Planche, 33x42, cart.) Pars I.--Inscriptions ph\'eniciennes Tome I. Fascicule 1. Texte EP Planches EP Fascicule 2. Texte 128F Planches 193F Fascicule 3/4. Texte 128F Planches 193F Tome II. Fascicule 1. Texte EP Planches EP Fascicule 2. Texte 128F Planches 193F Fascicule 3. Texte 128F Planches 193F Fascicule 4. Texte 128F Planches 193F Tome III. Fascicule 1. Texte EP Planches 193F Fascicule 2. Texte 128F Planches 193F Fascicule 3. Texte 128F Planches 193F Pars II.--Inscriptions aram\'eennes Tome I. Fascicule 1. Texte EP Planches EP Fascicule 2. Texte EP Planches 193F Fascicule 3. Texte 128F Planches EP Tome II. Fascicule 1. Texte 128F Planches 193F Tome III. Fascicule 1. Texte 128F Planches 193F Fascicule 2. Texte 128F Planches 193F Pars III.--Inscriptions h\'ebraiques (\`a para\^itre) Pars IV.--Inscrition himyarites et sab\'eennes Tome I. (4 fascicules \'epuis\'es) Tome II. Fascicule 1. Texte 128F Planches 193F Fascicule 2. Texte 128F Planches 193F Fascicule 3/4. Texte 128F Planches 193F Tome III. Fascicule 1. Texte 128F Planches 193F Fascicule 2. Texte 128F Planches 193F Pars V. Tome I. Fascicule 1. Texte 128F Planches 193F That's it. Now, as you can see, it is not clear which Fascicules contain an inscription such as CIS IV 445. I would guess that the IV refers to the Pars (part). This guess is supported by the fact that the inscription on the artifact inquestino is Sabaean, and Pars IV does contain the Sabaean inscriptions. But how does one find the volume and fascicule and page number without looking at all of them? If you have a copy handy, would you please take a look? Thanks. Allan Adler ara@altdorf.ai.mit.edu ------------------------------ From: george m jacobs Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 14:00:25 -0700 (MST) Subject: Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast On Wed, 26 Jan 1994, Elie Wardini wrote: > Is there any reason why the term "Levant" is not use so often? [remainder of excellent post deleted] My academic training was in prehistoric archaeology and, when referring to the eastern Mediterranean, my major professor invariably used the term "Levant", with directional modifiers, as appropriate. I don't think this was from any sense of trying to be "pc" but, rather, because the alternatives, which Elie Wardini notes have varying degrees of political and cultural significance, simply aren't relevant or significant when speaking of the paleolithic populations of the region. "Syria" and "Palestine" are appropriate in more specific cases, but "Levant" seems a good general term. (By the way, what *is* the etymology of 'levant'?) Mike Jacobs * Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721 tel: 602-621-6312 * e-mail: jacobsg@gas.uug.arizona.edu ------------------------------ From: Leah McKenzie Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 12:06:53 +1000 Subject: FWD>Jewish Studies Fellowsh Mail*Link(r) SMTP FWD>Jewish Studies Fellowships, >Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 11:53:35 -0500 >Reply-To: Jewish Studies discussion list >Sender: Jewish Studies discussion list >From: AJHYMAN@OISE.ON.CA >Subject: Jewish Studies Fellowships, Awards, ... >X-Cc: h-judaic@uicvm.uic.edu >To: Multiple recipients of list H-JUDAIC > >Attention JEWISH STUDIES JUDAICA eJOURNAL readers: > >As part of our mandate to enhance computer-mediated >Jewish Studies - the JSJeJ is engaging in a project to >compile a comprehensive list of all known fellowships, >scholarships, internships, grants, and awards in Jewish >Studies and related fields. This list will be made available >on-line to all JSJeJ readers. > >Please send us a short note (name of award, contact >address, deadline, and an optional short description) >of any award at your institution or elsewhere. > >As always, please send your notes to either: > jewstudies@israel.nysernet.org >or h-judaic@uicvm.uic.edu > >Thank you, >Avi Hyman - editor JSJeJ > > - ------------------ RFC822 Header Follows ------------------ Received: by muwayf.unimelb.edu.au with SMTP;15 Jan 1994 04:14:52 +1000 Received: from midway.uchicago.edu by muwayb.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (PMDF V4.2-14 #4399) id <01H7P5CT40CG003KUL@muwayb.ucs.unimelb.edu.au>; Sat, 15 Jan 1994 04:14:38 +1000 Received: from mithra-orinst.uchicago.edu by midway.uchicago.edu for leah_mckenzie@muwayf.unimelb.edu.au Fri, 14 Jan 94 11:12:45 CST Received: by mithra-orinst.uchicago.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA18146; Fri, 14 Jan 94 11:05:16 CST Received: from midway.uchicago.edu by mithra-orinst.uchicago.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA18139; Fri, 14 Jan 94 11:05:14 CST Received: from [128.135.244.11] (anshan-orinst.uchicago.edu) by midway.uchicago.edu for ane@mithra-orinst.uchicago.edu Fri, 14 Jan 94 11:03:29 CST Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 11:03:28 -0600 (CST) From: cejo@midway.uchicago.edu (Charles E. Jones) Subject: Jewish Studies Fellowships, Awards, ... Sender: ane-owner@mithra-orinst.uchicago.edu To: ane@mithra-orinst.uchicago.edu Message-id: <9401141703.AA29061@midway.uchicago.edu> Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Precedence: bulk ------------------------------ From: SEM_JLB@vax1.utulsa.edu Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 19:11:43 -0600 (CST) Subject: Hebrew lexicons I've been considering purchase of one of the new Hebrew lexicons. Has anyone spent enough time with the new Koehler-Baumgartner and/or with Sheffield's *Dictionary of Classical Hebrew* to have an opinion? I would be especially interested in comparative comments or thoughts on the electronic version of the Sheffield dictionary. Also, does anyone know of other dictionaries in print or in press? Jon L. Berquist Phillips Graduate Seminary, Tulsa, OK sem_jlb@vax1.utulsa.edu ------------------------------ From: JOHNGEE@YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU Date: Wed, 26 Jan 94 20:06:40 EST Subject: Creation by spitting (was vomitting) Creation by spitting (not vomitting) occurs in ancient Egypt. For the relevant bibliography please consult the following: James P. Allen, _Genesis in Egypt_, vol. 2 of _Yale Egyptological Studies_ (New Haven: Yale Egyptological Seminar, 198?) See especially Robert K. Ritner, _The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice_, vol. 54? of _Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization_ (Chicago: Oriental Institute, 1993), Chapter 3 on "Licking, Spitting, and Swallowing. I hope that someone will find this useful. John Gee ------------------------------ From: C R Pennell Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 10:19:50 +0800 (SST) Subject: Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast > > Ian Tompkins writes on "Levant" > > I suspect, as far as the Near East is concerned, Ian and I move in > somewhat different circles. The Near Easterners I know well, who > are almost all interested in the pre-Hellenistic period (mostly, as > far as the people I know who work in the area, in the prehistoric or > early historic) seem to have no problem with the term and use it > regularly. This may not be the case in scholarship on the Roman > period. I agree that the word does tend to conjure up a lot of 19th > century images. One reason may be that Levant presumably refers to the sun rising in the east. Arabic distinguishes between "Mashriq" - the "east" where the sun gets up i.e. Syria/Iraq/ in particular and Maghrib - wher it sets, i.e ALg/Tun/ Mor in general and Morocco in particular. [objections of a political nature about Libya and Mauritania can be inserted here] So Mashriq and Levant coincide both in meaning and the way the word has been arrived at. Postmodernism and Imperiliasm both apply. The wheel has turned full circle. Richard Pennell History NUS ------------------------------ From: Tony Keen Date: 27 Jan 94 10:05:48 GMT Subject: Ortiz Collection Yesterday's *Guardian* (26th January) contains two pieces on the exhibition of the George Ortiz collection of antiquities at the Royal Academy, one by Colin Renfrew on why the acquisition of this sort of private collection is bad for archaeology, and so ultimately bad for us all, and one by the exhibition's organiser David Sylvester, on why collecting enriches us all. Renfrew's article is closely reasoned, Sylvester's has holes you could drive a Macedonian phalanx through. I'll try to post both of these if possible, but won't get near a scanner till Tuesday, I'm afraid. Apologies to those who will receive multiple copies of this posting, as I'm putting it on all the nets I subscribe to, as the issues are relevant to all. Tony Keen Department of History University of Manchester Oxford Road MANCHESTER M13 9PL UK Tel: (061) 275 3105 (messages only) Fax: (061) 275 3098 `nec te quasiveris extra' - Persius, *Satires* I.7 ------------------------------ From: e.d.wardini@easteur-orient.uio.no (Elie Wardini) Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 14:43:18 +0100 Subject: Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast >(By the way, what *is* the etymology of 'levant'?) it is French for "rising (sun)" also for a wind (if I remember correctly it is east - south-east) which is humide. >Mike Jacobs * Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721 >tel: 602-621-6312 * e-mail: jacobsg@gas.uug.arizona.edu Elie Wardini Department for East-European and Oriental Studies Semitic languages Post Box 1030 Blindern 0315 Oslo Norway tel. off.: +47 - 22 85 71 21 home: +47 - 22 19 03 49 Fax: +47 - 22 85 41 40 e-mail: e.d.wardini@easteur-orient.uio.no ------------------------------ From: "R.T McLay" Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 13:55:36 +0000 (GMT) Subject: Re: Hebrew lexicons On Wed, 26 Jan 1994 J.L. Berquist wrote: > I've been considering purchase of one of the new Hebrew lexicons. > Has anyone spent enough time with the new Koehler-Baumgartner and/or > with Sheffield's *Dictionary of Classical Hebrew* to have an > opinion? I would be especially interested in comparative comments > or thoughts on the electronic version of the Sheffield dictionary. > Also, does anyone know of other dictionaries in print or in press? Well, it doesn't really matter how much time you spend with the new lexicon by Sheffield, there is only one volume available and seven more to go. It is expected to be two years before the 2nd is finished. At the SOTS conference in January everyone was given a copy to look at while D. Clines gave a spiel. Reactions to the format were somewhat mixed though I think it is and will be a worthy investment. 1st volume is $50. The lexicon includes any known lexemes including DSS, ostraca, etc. up to 2nd cent. CE (if I remember correctly), and the electronic format will be updated yearly as need be. As far as Biblical Hebrew goes, the dictionary is based on BHS. That is, only those forms which occur in BHS or readings which have been suggested in the apparatus are included. No judgment is made on the validity of the editor's suggestions, only that *if* the reading is adopted, then the meaning is such and such. Therefore, no recent conjectures are included and there are other emendations suggested that we could well do without. However, they have adopted a policy and the only way to do it is to be consistent. They also do not include data from ugaritic, etc. Some would say this is a flaw, but they argue that BDB and KB do that. What they do do is attempt to adopt a more linguistically informed approach (eg. by breaking down the occurrences in their collocations and noting other terms that share the same semantic domain which may be of significance for the meaning of the lex.) They also note every occurrence, so that you will have a complete concordance when the set is complete. Well, that is more than I intended to write, but it gives an idea. Tim McLay Durham ------------------------------ From: Raymond Hobbs Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 09:30:59 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Levant vs Syro-Palestinian coast The discussion of geographical names I find somewhat irritating, and I am not sure why. Some thoughts. Geographical boundaries are probably the most flexible feature of human history. Over the past century boundaries within Europe have expanded and contracted like rubber bands. In the same period in North America boundaries have tended to expand as new populations moved west acquiring new land and displacing old populations. Naming lands is often an exercise in anachronism. What is/was "Canada"? What is/was "Israel"? etc. "Levant" as has been pointed out is a French word meaning rising (of the sun). The Hebrew word "mizrach" (east) also has the same associations. But the term can also be applied to japan (Land of the Rising Sun)!!! Modern nationalisms make the matter more complicated. For convenience's sake we hear of "the former Yugoslavia" when listening to news broadcasts on the Balkans. But Yugoslavia was "the former something else..." Cambodia is now Kampuchea, Siam Thailand, Ceylon, Sri Lanka - until the next civil war, or change of government. For the region being discussed on the network "eastern Mediterranean" has been suggested. But the Mediterranean is NOT the centre of the world anymore. The ancient Hebrew language called it the Great Sea (Joshua 1.4), but we now know it may be big, but is not the biggest. My point is that names will continue to change according to a variety of causes. Whatever name is used it will betray the user's biases, perhaps origins, or even the university she/he studied at. So be it. Someone will be offended by whatever name is used. So be it. But such offense is unintentional, and, I would suggest at times unavoidable. I was naive enough to think that academics (that cursed breed) could get beyond that kind of fog and confusion. Thus speaks one born in Wales (derived from the Latin for the home of the Gauls(?), but as far as I know hI have no French in my background). Now many inhabitants prefer to call Wales Cymru, which might or might not be the proper pronunciation or spelling. My Father was English, my mother Welsh. Wales' borders and fortunes have fluctuated widely over the centuries. Now I am living in Canada (sorry "Ka-na-ta" = village!!!), next door to french-speaking Egyptians, and English-speaking Poles, etc., etc., I am sure i know what I mean when I use terms like "ancient Israel/Judah", "The Levant", "Syria-Palestine", "eastern Mediterranean" etc. The terms may be vague, and somewhat anachronistic. But I TRUST that my readers or listeners treat me as a person of good intentions, and understand the limitations of human language. Ray Hobbs- ------------------------------ From: Steve Muhlberger Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 10:50:00 PST Subject: Place names Further to Ray Hobbs' post. Considering the weather Central Canada has been getting for the last month, I think we should go back to another old name for (part of) Canada: The land God gave to Cain. ------------------------------ From: WYATTN@srv0.div.edinburgh.ac.uk Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 14:51:27 GMT Subject: Lexicographica Two matter currently under discussion: I Dictionaries: I bought the first vol. of the Sheffield DCH (offered at half price to SOTS members at the winter conf.) and was disappointed on two fronts. Firstly the first four items I looked up were unsatisfactory. E.g. under *'el*, the expression *bne 'elim* is simply rendered as "sons of the gods" with no evidence of a sense of the nuance required, that *'elim* must surely be both sg. and a proper name here [viz. El] however precisely construed. Secondly, on thoroughly well-argued grounds, it omits all philological discussion. This calls into question any judgment on a term where competing etymologies have been proposed, but are clearly not taken into account. Any other dictionaries? Try: J. Alonso Schokel (ed) Diccionario biblica hebreo-espanol, fasc. 1 Aleph-Aherah, 1990. Valencia. This also omits philologica. II Levant I put my oar in the other day, but it seems to have become lost in the swirl. Political correctness is something we try to joke about this side of the pond, but it encroaches daily. Why bust a gut over Levant? It is essentially a European word (French, "Rising [sun]", exactly the equivalent of Latin Oriens and Greek Anatole [as in Anatolia] and therefore naturally reflects a European experience). I refuse to apologise for being a European, though I feel guilt at some of the things Europeans have done (or are still doing, as in GATT agreements which screw Africa) in history. Everybody has reason to be guilty! We are stuck with these linguistic forms. To feel bad about it is like refusing to speak French because to call a maison "la" is sexist! (My father used to explain the illogicality of German to me by quoting the following dialogue au deutsch: Where is the dog? - - - He is in the garden. And where is the girl? - - - It is in the kitchen. As others have said, Levant simply IS the current word in English... and if someone can reasonably ask what is its etymology, it is evident that its implicit political history is now opaque. Evidently our new dictionaries are happy that we should hereafter bask in happy ignorance of the sinister implications of Hebrew philology. Another problem we face is the issue of NEAR or MIDDLE East (certain not Nixon's "Mid-East"!) in our disciplinary area. Our Archaeology department had a course on "Ancient near eastern civilisations" [ANEC for short]. When it was restructured because of modularisation, it came out as "Civilisations of the ancient Middle East". This put my nose out of joint, because I run a course on ANE religions. When I enquired why there was a change, the reply came that the whole title had been under consideration for an update, and the first draft turned out as "Ancient civilisations of the Near East", which in turn had become "Ancient civilisations of the Middle East". With the new word order, to retain the old term would have been offensive to spotty students, i.e. those with ACNE! The final word order did not correspond to a reversion to old tech. terms. Et voila. Nick Wyatt: Duneiddeann wyattn@srv0.div.ed.ac.uk ------------------------------ From: Jose Rubio Pardo Date: Thu, 27 Jan 1994 11:26:09 -0500 Subject: levant The English "Levant" (the first time, as a concret geographical name, in 1497, _Naval Acc. Hen. VII [1896]_: "A viage to be made into the levaunt") comes from the French "Levant" (the first time, as an adj. in _La Chanson de Roland_, ca. 1080). And this last one comes from the Latin "levans, levantis", present partc. of "levare", verb which comes from the adj. "levis". This indo-european root (*legw[H]-/*lengw[H]-/... [with labiovelar and, sometimes, perhaps with final laryngal]) is in English "light", for example. ............................... Gonzalo Rubio Near Eastern Studies Johns Hopkins University Gonzalor@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu ............................... ------------------------------ From: cejo@midway.uchicago.edu (Charles E. Jones) Date: Thu, 27 Jan 94 11:11:43 CST Subject: AOS program 1/2 Forwarded from Jack Sasson - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 26 Jan 1994 16:50:02 -0500 (EST) From: Jack M. Sasson Subject: AOS Program 94, Madison WI, March 20-23. This is a copy of the AOS program. There are likely to be some shifts here and there. Please note that it is in a stripped TeX state. This means that all typesetting commands have been removed, as have certain contiguous characters. The result, especially as it has to do with letters with diacritics, is somewhat strange appearing. I am sending the whole program, rather than just the ANE, because there are some goodies in the other sessions (NB Sunday night) and in order not to have us accused (undeservedly) of provincialism. Feel free to forward to any one else; but do make it clear that while it is not set in concrete, neither is it sitting on molasses. PROGRAM OF THE 204th MEETING Saturday, March 19th 8:30 p.m.--10:30 p.m. Meeting, Editorial Board, JAOS. 8:00 p.m.--10:00 p.m. Meeting, ASOR Baghdad Committee . Sunday, March 20th 9:30 a.m.--12:00 p.m. Meeting, Board of Directors. 1:00 p.m.--5:00 p.m. Registration and Book Exhibit . 2:00 p.m.--5:30 p.m. Sunday Afternoon Sectional Meetings A. Ancient Near East I: AOS-NACAL: Linguistics . Maynard P. Maidman , Chair. 1. Miguel Civil , Oriental Institute, University of Chicago Sumerian Polysyllabic Word Classes 2. Dietz O. Edzard , University of Munich s ap s eb The Adventure of Akkadian [ e] 3. David Testen , University of Chicago Reconstruction of the endings of the Semitic plural pronominals 4. Joshua Fox , Harvard University A Sequence of vowel shifts in Phoenician and related languages 5. Ben Fortson , Harvard University On the ``sporadic'' Usage of -wa(r) in Old Hittite 6. Richard M. Wright jr. , Cornell University Linguistic Evidence for the Pre-Exilic Date of the So-called Yahwist Source 7. George E. Mendenhall , University of Michigan Where Was Arabic During the Bronze Age? 8. Peter T. Daniels , University of Chicago On the Position of Stress in Classical Arabic 9 Alan S. Kaye , California State University, Fullerton The Arabic Language Continuum B. East Asia I: Woman as Warrior, Consort, and Buddhist Madeline K. Spring , Chair. 10. Marina H. Sung , Wellesley College The Woman Warriors -- Virtue under Confucianism. 11. Robert Joe Cutter , University of Wisconsin, Madison. Dangerous Liaisons: Empresses and Consorts during the Three States Period. 12. Yuet Keung Lo , Grinnell College. Toward Homogeneity and Domesticity: the Writing of Buddhist Laywomen's Biographies in China. C. Inner Asia I. Ecology and Folklore . Uli Schamiloglu , Chair. 13. Michael Walter, Indiana University . Attempt at a More Detailed Description Of mi chos 14. Ruth I. Meserve , Indiana University. China and the Near East in the Making of Central Eurasia: Animal Husbandry. 15. Metin Ekici , University of Wisconsin. Comparative Structure of the Turkic Versions of K g lu. D. Islam I: Islamic History I: Christians in Medieval Islamic Societies . Fred M. Donner , Chair. (Sponsored by Middle East Medievalists) 16. Chase F. Robinson , Oriental Institute, Oxford Patterns of Christian Authority in Early Islamic Northern Me 17. Terry Wilfong , University of Chicago Muslim Relations with the Coptic Town of Jme in the Early Islamic Period 18. Tayeb El-Hibri , Columbia University Abbasid Provincial Policy and Muslim-Christian Rapprochement in Ninth-Century Egypt and Syria 19. Marlis Salih , University of Chicago Government Interference in the Internal Affairs of the Coptic Church in Egypt during the Fatimid Period (969--1171 A.D.) 20. Linda Northrup , University of Toronto Documentary Evidence for the Lives of Christians Living under Islamic Rule in Jerusalem in the Fourteenth Century E. South Southeast Asia I: Religion, Literature, and History ., Chair. 21. Jerome H. Bauer , University of Pennsylvania Mah Embryo Transfer: A New Look at a Miracle Story 22. Tamara S. J. Lanaghan , University of Wisconsin, Madison May Her Name Be Auspicious: Women and Caste in Classical Hinduism 23. Priyawat Kuanpoonpol , Harvard University Purity and Sexual Economics in K s emendra's Samayam r k 24. Brian A. Hatcher , Illinois Wesleyan University Nostalgia and Self-Construction: Autobiographies of Two 19th-Century Pa n d its in Bengal 25. J. Daniel White , University of North Carolina, Charlotte Orientalism and Disease: James Anderson and Smallpox Eradication in the Madras Presidency, 1802--1804 26. Richard Salomon , University of Washington A Forgotten Inscription of the Kalacuris of Tripur 8:30 p.m.--10:30 p.m. Sunday Evening Sectional Meeting Special Session in Honor of Franz Rosenthal . Joel Kraemer , Chair. 27. Stephen A. Kaufmann , Hebrew Union College On Reading the Tel Dan Inscription: Observations on the Classification of the Central Semitic Languages and the Philological Tradition in Semitic Studies 28. James A. Bellamy , University of Michigan Three Proposed Emendations to the Text of the Koran 29. Everett K. Rowson , University of Pennsylvania The Futility of Empiricism: Muslim Arguments for the Prophetic Origin of the Sciences 30. Jacob Lassner , Northwestern University The Reckoning of Time and the Record of the Past: Historical Consciousness in the Medieval Near East Monday, March 21st 8:30 a.m.--5:00 p.m. Registration and Book Exhibit . Lobby 9:00 a.m.--12:30 p.m. Monday Morning Sectional Meetings A. Ancient Near East II: History Historiography . Muhammad Dandamayev , Chair. 31. John A. Brinkman , Oriental Institute, University of Chicago Continuity and Discontinuity in Babylonian Civilization 32. Jack M. Sasson , University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The Death of Zuzu, king of Apum. 33. Gary Beckman , University of Michigan Adoption at Emar 34. Daniel E. Fleming, New York University Piecing Together the Emar Calendar 35. Steven W. Cole , Harvard University Land Acquisition, Tenure, and Use on the Central Babylonian Plain around 750 B.C. 36. Paul-Alain Beaulieu , Yale University The Return of the True Ishtar to Uruk During the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar II 37. Leo Depuydt , Brown University Regnal Dating Under the Achaemenids: A Reassessment B. East Asia II. Early Chinese Texts . David B. Honey , Chair. 38. Stephen W Durrant , University of Oregon The Confucius of Tso Commentary 39. Zongli Lu , University of Wisconsin, Madison The Problems of A.F.P. Hulsewe's ``The Problem of the Authenticity of Shih chi ch. 123, the Memoir on Ta Y 40. Paul W. Kroll , University of Colorado, Boulder Stray Notes on Some Cruces in Li Po's Poetry 41. William G. Boltz , University of Washington Notes on the Su Tan manuscript of the Lao tzui C. Inner Asia II. Archeology, Iconography, and History . Christopher I. Beckwith , Chair. 42. Mikl Z. West New York Manichaeans, Nestorians or Bird Costumes (?) in Petroglyphs of the Abakan Steppes (Minusinsk Region) 43. John R. Perry , University of Chicago Tracing the tugh Iranian and Tibetan Versions of a Turco-Mongol Emblem 44. Denis Sinor , Indiana University Fact and Fancy about the Mongols in La Flor des Estoires de la Terre d'Orient (1307) of Hayton 45. Uli Schamiloglu , University of Wisconsin Calques of Golden Horde Terminology in Russian Sources D. Islam II: Islamic Law . Jeanette Wakin , Chair. 46. Jonathan E. Brockopp , Yale University The Importance of Abdall b. Abd al- H akam (d. 214/829) for the Early M School in Egypt 47. Brannon M. Wheeler , Vanderbilt University al-Qud al-U s 48. Bernard Weiss , University of Utah Amidi on the Basis of Authority of Juristic Opinion 49. Aron Zysow , University of Washington The Theoretical Foundations of the Islamic Law of Pre-emption 50. Lutz Wiederhold , St. Antony's College, Oxford al-Lu h al-Masm Some Remarks about Fuqah and Umar as Concurrent Authorities in Mamluk Egypt and Syria 51. David S. Powers , Cornell University Conflicting Conceptions of Property in 15th-Century Morocco E. South Southeast Asia II: Linguistics . Chair. 52. Michael C. Shapiro , University of Washington A Previously Undescribed Use of Hindi-Urdu c 53. Peter Edwin Hook , University of Michigan The Play of Markedness in Hindi-Urdu Lexical Sets 54. Richard J. Cohen , University of Pennsylvania A Computerized Old Gujarati Dictionary 55. David W. McAlpin , Saint Louis, Missouri Is Brahui Closer to Elamite or Dravidian? The Evidence from Verb Morphology 56. Norman Zide , University of Chicago Subject and Object-Marking in South Munda F. South Southeast Asia III: Religion and Philosophy . Chair. 57. Charles S. Prebish , Pennsylvania State University s a-dharmas Revisited: Further Considerations of Mah m ghika Origins 58. Gudrun B University of Wisconsin, Madison The Goddess Mah in Buddhist and Hindu Tantrism 59. Karen Lang , University of Virginia Candrak on satk r s t i 60. Priyawat Kuanpoonpol , Harvard University Pratibh Revisited: Ma n d anami Interpretation of Bhart r hari's pratibh in the Vidhiviveka with V Ny n ik Commentary 61. William S. Waldron , Madison, Wisconsin Buddhism and Modern Psychology: Comparing Apples and Oranges? 2:00 p.m.--5:30 Monday Afternoon Sectional Meetings A. Ancient Near East III: Society and culture . David N. Freedman , Chair. 62. Daniel C. Snell , University of Oklahoma Megatrends for Women: Did Their Lot Get Worse in the Ancient Near East? 63. Marc van de Mieroop , Columbia University Old Babylonian Interest Rates: Were They Usurious? 64. Judy Bjorkman , University of Pennsylvania Headless in Mesopotamia 65. Hripsime Haroutunian , Institute of Oriental Studies, Armenian Academy of Sciences The Hittite View on the Home/House as a Reduced Model of the Universe 66. John Maier , SUNY College at Brockport ABZU: A Figure in Modern Literary Criticism 67. Baruch A. Levine , New York University ``Come to Heshbon'': Problems Deriving from the Archaeological History of Transjordan 68. S. David Sperling , Hebrew Union College-JIR, NY Numbers 6:27 and KAI 26 B. East Asia III: Classical Chinese Literature . Paul W. Kroll , Chair. 69. Madeline K. Spring , University of Colorado, Boulder Narratives in the Late Ninth-Century Kan-tse Yao 70. David R. Knechtges , University of Washington Wang Pao's ``Rhapsody on the Panpipes'' 71. David B. Honey , Brigham Young University Before Dragons Coiled and Tigers Crouched: Early Nanjing in History and Poetry 72. Ping-Leung Chan , Lingnan College Text, Context, and Intertext: Li Bai's ``Ascending the Phoenix Tower in Jinling'' C. Inner Asia III. Linguistics . Denis Sinor , Chair. 73. John A. Erickson , Indiana University An Uncommon Type of Temporal Clause in Old Turkic 74. Walter Slater , University of Wisconsin Development of the Dative Case in Chaghatay 75. Christopher I. Beckwith , Indiana University Categorization in Tibetan D. Islam III: Religion . Devin Stewart , Chair. 76. Christopher Melchert , Southwest Missouri State University The Wider Sh School of Law and Theology in the 9th and 10th Centuries C.E. 77. Sidney H. Griffith , Catholic University of America The Mi s b h al- aql of Severus ibn al-Muqaffa 78. Boustan Hirji , Dawson College Ism Neoplatonism: Syncretism or a Sellout? 79. Jonathan G. Katz , Oregon State University Communicating with Spirits or Ilm al-r h A Case of Split Personality 80. Todd Lawson , University of Toronto Conjuring Presence: The B Commentary on the Abundance (Qur 108) E. South Southeast Asia IV: Vedic Studies . 81. Joel P. Brereton , University of Missouri Edifying Puzzlement: R V 10.129 and Vedic Enigmas 82. Jared S. Klein , University of Georgia Rigvedic Metrics, Phonology, and Etymology 83. Peter M. Scharf , Brown University The Term dvayam in the n a 84. Hans Henrich Hock , University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Nexus and `Extraclausality' in Vedic: A Historical (Re)examination 85. Madhav M. Deshpande , University of Michigan Grammars and Grammar-Switching in Vedic Recitational Variations 86. Steve Peter , Harvard University More on Accent in Vedic Sanskrit Vocatives 87. Christopher Minkowski , Cornell University ev/'am ev and G n ag 88. Martin Schwartz , University of California, Berkeley Heavenly Bonds and the Hell-bound: On Zoroaster's Theology and Eschatology in the Light of Gathic (Re)composition 6:00 p.m.--8:00 p.m Reception for Members and Their Guests and Exhibit: ``Heritage of the Brush: The Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection of Chinese Paintings'' . Elvehjem Museum, Paige Court (University of Wisconsin Campus) 8:30 p.m.--10:00 p.m. Monday Evening Sectional Meeting Ancient Near East IV: Literature . Tzvi Abusch , Chair. In Memory of Thorkild Jacobsen 89. Steve Tinney , University Museum, Philadelphia Ur-Namma the Canal-digger 90. Douglas R. Frayne , Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia Notes on the ``Ur-Nammu Stele'' 91. Richard E. Averbeck , Dallas Theological Seminary The Occupation of the New Eninnu in Gudea Cylinder B ii 7--xiii 10 92. Rivkah Harris , School of the Art Institute of Chicago On the Youthfulness of Gilgamesh in the Standard Babylonian Version ------------------------------ End of Ancient Near East Digest V1 #47 ************************************** To subscribe to ANE-Digest, send the command: subscribe ANE-digest in the body of a message to "Majordomo@oi.uchicago.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-ANE": subscribe ANE-digest local-ANE@your.domain.net A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "ANE-digest" in the commands above with "ANE". Back issues are available for anonymous FTP from oi.uchicago.edu, in pub/ane/vNN.nMMM (where "NN" is the volume number, and "MMM" is the issue number).