From: owner-ane To: ane-digest@oi.uchicago.edu Subject: Ancient Near East Digest V3 #127 Reply-To: Errors-To: owner-ane Precedence: bulk Ancient Near East Digest Wednesday, 10 April 1996 Volume 03 : Number 127 Re: List abuse/my 2 cents worth. No Subject Sumerian Affinities with Other Languages Re: Sumerian Affinities with Other Languages Intrusive messages Re: Osiris = Orion etc. Re: Campbell and the Sumerian Calendar Re: "Jesus" on ossuaries Re: DIRECTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN EGYPTOLOGISTS dating the Exodus? Re: the Egyptian year Re: Sumerian Affinities with Other Languages Job Vacancy Announcement Abuse controlling others' computers Re: 5 Days at End of Solar Year ANE Q? egyptology textbooks? spam and another 2 cents worth Re: ANE Q? egyptology textbooks? Re: Linguistic Relationships Princeton seeks Hellenistic historian Re: Abuse controlling others' computers Job for Hellenist @ Penn State (fwd) egyptology textbooks? Egyptology textbooks ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hic@tiac.net (Howard I. Cohen) Date: Tue, 09 Apr 1996 23:32:59 -0500 Subject: Re: List abuse/my 2 cents worth. > Date: Tue, 9 Apr 1996 10:46:31 -0700 (PDT) > To: Peter Daniels > cc: ane@mithra-orinst.uchicago.edu > Subject: Re: List abuse > > i never read chen's post. i saw immediately right away that it was not a > subject in which i was interested and that was the end of it. i hardly > think that it calls for his "immediate and permanent banning" from the > list. if he made a mistake and the list in general disapproves, then i'm > sure that he got the message. no doubt people have taken it upon > themselves to send private postings/flames directly to him. the lesson > has probably been learnt and i think that banning him is out of all > proportion to the "crime" which is most minor. > > chris hoffman > > On Mon, 8 Apr 1996, Peter Daniels wrote: > > > > > Regarding the commercial announcement from one John Chen received today > > > > Does anyone on the list defence xxxx defend his posting it to the list? > > > > I believe it is grounds for his immediate and permanent banning form the > > > Dear Peter: The zeal and energy with which you want to crush, humiliate and permanently scar this Chen fellow suggests a style that is neither democratic nor christian. The general by-laws that internet users follow lets anyone say anything, given some guidelines about child pornography, federal cryptographic secrets and things like that. I doubt if there is any internet 'court' that would jepordize its own liberties by taking away another's. Unfortunately, while your anger is a very honest and human emotion, I must agree with chris hoffman, and cast my vote in support of chen. He may be thoughtless, or stupid or even 'out-of-line' by layering something 'commercial' on a list as scholarly and above the normally bruising world of commerce, as ours is, but rest assured, its all over the net. In fact its commercialism is growing so fast that articles are appearing about it. And meanwhile, I suggest that you treat yourself to a wild and wonderful time with your delete key. A good christian would probably turn the other cheek and simple delete it. Poof, there, it's gone. Don't you feel better now?? In fact that's what I did. Sincerely, Howard Howard I. Cohen, Boston Computer Society Director, CAD-Special Interest Group ------------------------------ From: "Denise H. Eldon" Date: Tue, Apr 9, 1996 8:46 PM Subject: No Subject ------------------------------ From: ProtoL@aol.com Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 01:14:32 -0400 Subject: Sumerian Affinities with Other Languages From: ProtoL@aol.com (Pat Ryan) To: Any interested Sumerologist Re: Sumerian Affinities with Nostratic Date: April 10, 1996 Dear Sumerologist: I have been working for some years on comparing Sumerian with Nostratic (for this purpose, primarily PIE and PAA). I know the orthodox answer to this question but it will not take long for you to see enough to decide if I am on the right track in your opinion. For those who might be somewhat assured by knowing, I studied at the OI for two years back a few years ago (ME Lang graduate program). Nothing wagered, nothing gained! ------------------------------ From: Jose Rubio Pardo Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 03:20:39 -0400 Subject: Re: Sumerian Affinities with Other Languages On Wed, 10 Apr 1996 ProtoL@aol.com wrote: > I have been working for some years on comparing Sumerian with Nostratic (for > this purpose, primarily PIE and PAA). > > I know the orthodox answer to this question but it will not take long for you > to see enough to decide if I am on the right track in your opinion. > > For those who might be somewhat assured by knowing, I studied at the OI for > two years back a few years ago (ME Lang graduate program). As far as I know, Allan R, Bomhard and John C. Kerns have attempted to integrate Sumerian in their (I dare say, highly hypothetical) reconstruction of Nostratic (_The Nostratic Macrofamily..._. Trends in Linguistics Stu&Mon 74. Berlin: Muoton de Gruyter, 1994). Unfortunately, their remarks on Sumerian have plenty of, let's say, misleading or slighty inaccurate ideas. Probably, most of them come from the fact that they seem to rely on a quite idiosyncratic book: Colman-Gabriel Gostony's (_Dictionnaire d'etymologie sumerienne et grammaire comparee_. Paris: De Boccard, 1975). On Gostony, check the enjoyable reviews by Edzard (_BSOAS_ 39 [1976]: 637 f. --witty suggestion by Edzard, applying Gostony's "methodology", on Amar-Su'ena and Ralph Waldo Emerson) and Hru$ka (_OLZ_ 74 [1979]: 337 ff. --"man wundert sich darueber, dass die Untersuchungen von Gostony mit Hilfe des angesehenen CNRS... veroeffentlicht werden konnte"). That's regarding the so-called "glottalic" school of Nostratic. The "classical" Moscow(-Michigan) school doesn't seem to be too interested (I guess) in Sumerian. Humbly, as far as I know, neither Illich-Svitych, nor his direct and close disciples and friends, have used Sumerian in their alleged reconstruction. John Bengston published a four page article entitled "Notes on the Sino-Caucasian Affinity of Sumerian", in V. Shevoroshkin (ed), _Proto-Languages and Proto-Cultures_ (Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1990), pp. 56 ff. Although he uses Benedict's widely accepted _Conspectus_ for the Sino-Tibetan reconstruction, I would't say Trombetti's old book on the origins of the Basque language has to be taken seriously at all, and, regarding Caucasian (and its conections with Basque, based --among other curious books-- on Chirikba's work), I don't dare judge. I understand, Claude Boisson (prof. in Lyon) has written some still unpublished papers on Sumerian and Dravidian, and also on Sumerian and Nostratic (especially, Sumerian, Uralic, Altaic, and Burushaski). Unfortunately I didn't have a chance of reading any of them. He did publish an interesting (although one may disagree on several points) article on typology and Sumerain phonology (_BSL_ 84 [1989]: 201 ff.). Respectfully, nowadays our knowledge of all the already reconstructed common or proto-languages (from Indo-European to Eastern Caucasian) is not deep enough as to attempt a (more than hypothetical, almost fictional) reconstruction of such a proto-proto-(proto)-language. In the case of Sumerian, Phonology itself raises so many questions that any use of Sumerian material is kind of premature and almost amateurish. Gonzalo Rubio Near Eastern Studies Johns Hopkins University ------------------------------ From: petworth@suba.com (Bill Thayer) Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 03:31:37 -0500 Subject: Intrusive messages Sara Kimball's hit the jackpot, thank you Sara. I had a feeling there was no "Chen" and if you haven't gone to the Stop-Spam site at http://www.iac.co.jp/~issho/stop-spam.html by all means do, briefly; then calm down! There is certainly no need to moderate the list or anything drastic. Kill filters (at the list level and at our own individual level) will work fine. Yes, for those of us that have a good mail program, the simplest thing is to set our filters to route this recurring item to trash. As I said, I've seen the same thing at least once, and I think twice, before; and apparently it's always the same message, so it's easy to set a personal kill-filter, to cover all mailinglists we may be on. - ---> Our list administrator should do the equivalent. (More detailed info available at the above Stop-Spam site) Anyway, I make extensive use of the filter function on Eudora Pro 2.whatever, and it works beautifully. To filter this particular item out (i.e., to send it to trash when you pick up your mail, you'll never even see it unless you're one of those who stare at the tube as the messages flow in), enter one of the constant passages of Kevin's message. The one I use is: Please first read my note which appears below the "Request for more info Form." Then, to get more info, Voila -- Peace, Bill ------------------------------ From: Martin Prudky Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 11:28:21 +0000 (GMT) Subject: Re: Osiris = Orion etc. > At 6:27 AM 4/1/96, DR MARY SCOTT writes: > > > A student, after seeing some TV programme, has asked me whether the > > ancient Egyptians identified the constellation Orion with the god > > Osiris. Can anyone tell me where I could check this out? Our library > > is not very well stocked, so if the answer would only be obtainable > > in a book on Egyptian astronomy rather than a book on Egyptian > > religion, please be so kind as to suply me with the answer the lazy > > way - via e-mail. > > Mary Scott. > > It's true. Sirius and Orion as Isis and Osiris. Of course, Osiris was also > idenitifed with the moon, the sun, the Nile, and everything else. > Let me add a complementary reference: Isis as Sirius and Osiris as Orion are probably represented as early as on the paintings and inscriptions in 1. vault of Senmut, chancellor of the queen Hatchepsut (cca 1500 B.C.) 2. vault of Sethi I. (cca 1300 B.C.) 3. temple of Amon in Veset built by Ramesse II. (cca 1280 B.C.) All of these paintings represent the list of dekans (angles of 10 deg. used in time-measuring; the whole sky is divided into 36 dekans), each of them related to its deity. For details see: Pogo, Isis vol.14, p.319 B.L.van der Waerden, Die Anfaenge der Astronomie, Groningen, 1966, p.25 (there is also a translation in English). Regards, Jan Moravec Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University Prague, Czech Republic e-mail: moravec@etf.cuni.cz ------------------------------ From: "Robert Whiting; Tel +358-0-191-23289" Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 15:27:43 +0200 (EET) Subject: Re: Campbell and the Sumerian Calendar On 09 Apr 1996 m.levi@ix.netcom.com (M.Levi) wrote: > Sumerians had two calendars: solar and lunar. Sumerian cultic > calendars, used for everyday purposes and for determining the right > dates for temple offerings, were lunar. These are in use as early as > 2400 BC. At first, Sumerian cities maintained distinct calendars, but > by 2000 BC Nippur's calendar was adopted throughout southern > Mesopotamia. See Mark. E. Cohen, _The Cultic Calendars of the Ancient > Near Neast_ CDL Press, 1993. If the Sumerians had a solar calendar, they kept it well hidden. To quote Landsberger ("Jahreszeiten in im Sumerisch-Akkadischen," _Journal of Near Eastern Studies_ 8 [1949], 253-54): "Das Sonnenjahr mit seinen vier Fixpunkten hatte keine lebendige Existenz. Aequinoktien und Solstizien werden zwar von spaeten Astronomen in ihren Beobachtungstexten gebucht, haben aber kein Bedeutung im Bauren- oder Festkalender, noch auch in der Mythologie." All Sumerian calendars were lunar, the day beginning at sunset and the month beginning with the first sighting of the new crescent moon after solar-lunar conjunction. The different Sumerian city-states each maintained its own calendar with its own month names and relied on its own observations as to when the month began and when it needed to be intercalated. See the article "Kalender" by Hermann Hunger in _Reallexikon der Assyriologie_, vol. 5, 297-303. The Nippur calendar did become the standard in Southern Mesopotamia in the Old Babylonian period. In fact, the present Jewish calendar is based on it. > Solar calendars are based on the movement of the sun around the > ecliptic, a period idealized in Mesopotamia as 12 months, 360 days -- > probably to conform the solar year to a perfect 360 degree circle for > theological reasons. Explicit textual evidence exists for the > idealized solar year in Mesopotamia. Oppenheim cites a text to this > effect in one of his articles: "12 are the months of the year, 360 are > its days." This is not an idealized solar year, but an idealized lunar year. Sumero-Babylonian mathematics and astronomical theory were not adequate to predict 29- and 30- day months, so for calculation purposes in administrative and legal texts the year was reckoned as 12 30-day months. The same is true of the late astronomical compendium MUL.APIN. > I don't know of references that confirm that Sumerians invented the > solar calendar, but it can easily be inferred that they did. Sumerians > inserted intercalary months in their lunar calendars as early as 2000 > BC to conform the seasons, esentially correcting lunar calendars with > data from solar observations. Sumerians named constellations on the > ecliptic -- for example Annunitum (Pisces) -- located in areas of the > sky where there are no bright stars or features of interest -- and they > seem to have been more interested in these areas than in other brighter > stars located away from the ecliptic. These constellations could only > have been used as points of reference to track the sun. Intercalation was done to keep the lunar calendar in line with the seasons, and was not necessarily based on solar observations. The haphazard way in which early calendars were intercalated belies a reliance on solar observations for this purpose. We know precious little about Sumerian astronomy, almost all of our information coming from late observations and compendia. Observations of solar and lunar phenomena were aimed primarily at being able to predict eclipses, always considered ominous by the Mesopotamians. > Mesopotamians were aware that the year was longer than 360 days. I am > not sure about religious celebrations on the extra days in the Sumerian > period-- although it seems likely that the five days would be regarded > as extremely dangerous and subject to many protective rites. I am > under the impression that the New Year's festival was celebrated at > this time in later periods. I hope others will provide more details to > clarify religious aspects of the solar calendar. There were no extra five days. The New Year's festival was celebrated at the beginning of the new lunar year, but different calendars may have varied on when the year started. > As far Campbell's notion of cyclical time, all cultic calendars -- > including familiar Jewish, Christian, and Islamic religious calendars > -- conform to this general observation. Judging from the fact that > Sumerian months are named for religious festivals, calendars seem to > have been invented for mainly ecclesiastical, rather than agricultural, > purposes. Cyclical time is what calendars are all about. While many Sumerian months are named for religious festivals occuring in them, many are named for agricultural activities (see the JNES article by Landsberger cited above). In fact, all of the calendars of the various Sumerian cities in the Ur III period (c 2100-2000) had a month named "month of cutting barley" (i.e., "harvest month"). Campbell has obviously confused Sumerian and Egyptian notions of the calendar. After all, one ancient civilization is pretty much like another, isn't it? :) Robert M. Whiting Managing Editor The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project Department of Asian & African Studies | Voice: +358-0-191 23289 PL 13 (Meritullinkatu 1 B) | Fax: +358-0-191 22094 FIN-00014 University of Helsinki | E-mail: whiting@cc.helsinki.fi Finland | URL: http://www.helsinki.fi/science/saa/ ------------------------------ From: Doug Weller Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 13:03:46 +0100 Subject: Re: "Jesus" on ossuaries In message <316AD6CF.3073@laser.net> Jim Ross wrote: > Charles E. Jones wrote: > > > > > Author..... Rahmani, L. Y. > > Title...... A Catalogue of Jewish Ossuaries in the Collections > > of the State of Israel. . . > > > > 704 -bibl. same > > Jewish script - Yeshua'(?), son of Yehosef. . . > > According to my remembrance there was another Herodian period ossuary > discovered in the 1930's with the inscription y-sh-w-( [ayin]. I have a > reproduction of that inscription sold years ago by the Palestine Pottery > in the form of a glazed tile. I purchased it in 1953, but have never > seen any others since. What I've read is that 7 have been found with the name Jesus, 2 of which said Jesus son of Joseph. One of these of course was found with the others in question (ie Mary, Joseph, Judah son of Joseph, etc. - -- Doug Weller ------------------------------ From: Marian Bernstein Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 06:08:52 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: DIRECTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN EGYPTOLOGISTS Yes, Thank you! Since we are having difficulty with our Netscape, I cannot ascertain whether or not I am on the list. If not, please include me: Marian Bernstein, San FRancisco State University, Classics Department, Egyptology program: marianb@sfsu.edu On Tue, 9 Apr 1996, Charles E. Jones wrote: > Announcing the availability on the WWW of: > > THE DIRECTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN EGYPTOLOGISTS - 1995/1996 > > http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/ABZU/EGDIR_INTRO.HTML > > just in time for the ARCE meetings. > > The version now available electronically is the same (with a few minor > corrections) as the printed version published earlier this year. > > Please supply comments, corrections and praise to: > Richard H. Wilkinson > Director, Egyptian Expedition > The University of Arizona > kemet@azstarnet.com > > who is the editor of the Directory, and who will be the central place for > additions, corrections and changes. > > HTML markup is provided by me, and storage and archive facilities are > courtesy of the Research Archives of the Oriental Institute and the > Oriental Institute Computer Laboratory. > > -Chuck- > > ------------------------------ From: Pat-Chesney@easy.com (Pat Chesney) Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 08:26:53 -0500 Subject: dating the Exodus? A short time ago, two of you on the list were making the point that many dating theories for the Exodus are entertained for discussion-unless you propose a theory with Ahkenaten involved. It was hinted that if someone proposed a date in that time period, scholarship would not take the argument seriously. I am not interested in arguing for this date, I am interested in the reasons why this date would not be seriously considered if several other date theories would be considered. Are there specific works available that refute theories of the Amarna period being the time of the Exodus? Could someone reference them? Thank you, Pat Chesney Pat-Chesney@easy.com Waco, Texas ------------------------------ From: kadishg@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 09:37:18 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: the Egyptian year A brief addendum to David Lorton's posting on the Egyptian calendar. The five epagomenal days were called "above (and beyond) the year". Their anomalous status is reflected in the fact that they are generally regarded as unlucky days in the calendars of lucky and unlucky days, and that they were sometimes assigned as the birthdays of specific deities. Gerald E. Kadish Professor of History and Near Eastern Studies Department of History Binghamton University (SUNY) Binghamton, NY 13902-6000 (607) 777-2488 e-mail: kadishg@bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu ------------------------------ From: Alexis Manaster Ramer Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 10:08:17 -0400 Subject: Re: Sumerian Affinities with Other Languages As the only currently active member of the Michigan part of what Gonzalo-Rubio described as the Michigan-Moscow school of Nostratic (and there is not much happening in Moscow either actually), I was delighed to read Gonzalo's (if I may call you by your first name) posting, which I think is entirely accurate and which frankly surprised me because I had not thought that any one has kept track so well of the Nostratic issues. I do seem to recall that one of the cofounders of the Moscow school, Dolgopol'skij, did at one point speculate about a Sumerian connection, but certainly nothing came of that. There was an extended debate about the merits of the two very different versions of Nostratic on the Indo-European list recently between Bomhard and me and if anybody is interested I believe put the whole thing somewhere on the Web and Icould try to find it. For information on Moscow/Michigan ideas of Nostratic, see my review article in Studies in Lg in 1993, my forthcoming paper 'Nostratic from a typological point of view' in JIES, and some of the papers in the forthcoming book ed. by Brian Joseph and Joe Salmons, Nostratic: Evidence and Status. I can probably email some things to people that contact me directly. Alexis MR ------------------------------ From: pmueller@mail.utexas.edu (Peggy Mueller) (by way of cejo@midway.uchicago.edu (Charles E. Jones)) Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 09:25:38 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Job Vacancy Announcement Job Vacancy Announcement (please excuse cross-postings): REFERENCE LIBRARIAN; CLASSICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY BIBLIOGRAPHER REFERENCE AND INFORMATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT (revised April 5, 1996) Reference librarian to provide reference service in the Perry-Casta=F1eda Library, the main social sciences and humanities library, with reference responsi- bilities for humanities, classics, archaeology, American, British, and European languages and literature. The librarian will serve as the classics and archaeology bibliographer for the Classics Library and as liaison for the Department of Classics. Responsibilities include collection development activities, faculty and student liaison, reference service as part of a team of professionals and paraprofessionals, library instruction, and teaching use of electronic information resources. Weekend and night work will be required. REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: MLS from an ALA accredited graduate program; academic degree or significant work experience in the humanities; demonstrated ability to read one or more modern foreign languages; experience with reference assistance and electronic resources and services; two years academic library experience. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Academic degree or significant work experience in classics or archaeology; substantial course work or professional experience in literature and literary theory; experience in related collection development activities; knowledge of German and Greek or Latin languages; experience with library instruction and development of instructional materials; knowledge of developing technology supporting reference service; demonstrated effective public speaking, teaching, interpersonal, writing, and communications skills. Salary range is $29,000 to $35,000 or more annually, depending on qualifications. This professional librarian position is available June 15, 1996, and is a security sensitive position. No state or local income tax. Competitive benefits package; retirement plan options. To ensure consideration, applications should be received by May 17, 1996, but will be accepted until the position is filled. Send a letter of interest and resume, including the names, addresses, and phone numbers of three professional references, and a statement of salary requirements to: Peggy Mueller, The University of Texas at Austin, The General Libraries, P.O. Box P, Austin, TX 78713-8916. An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer ------------------------------ From: ECOLING@aol.com Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 10:34:08 -0400 Subject: Abuse controlling others' computers We have often been told to use our delete key on messages we don't like. This completely misses the point. When we sign on to receive our email, our computers are NOT under our control, and someone pays for the network time, we do ourselves directly, or via some subsidy. WE CANNOT RECOVER CONTROL OF OUR COMPUTERS UNTIL THE MESSAGES HAVE BEEN DOWNLOADED. This makes the deliberate sending of unwanted commercial messages clear as what it really is. It is surely already illegal, and on this single point I am in favor of legislation to set very high penalties making it worth detecting the source of those who deliberately do this knowing full well the receivers do not want it and it is irrelevant to the list where they post it, and making their guilt clear by using fictional return addresses. Now read again the following, and notice how naive it is. I said in an earlier message that the magazine subscription message was >an example of an email spam using a forged return address and that it's >been going on for some time in other email lists. I checked it out in the Usenet >newsgroups on >net-abuse. The perpetrator is well known and apparently infamous >elsewhere in the Internet. If you'd like more information on how it >happens, who to complain to, and how it can be kept off mailing lists, >here are two Web sites that provide information: >http://math-www.uni-paderborn.de/~axel/BL/blacklist.html#list >http://www.iac.co.jp/~issho/stop-spam.html >Sara Kimball And from Mitch Rice the following comparison >When this bozo (chen) spammed a list that I oversee, I immediately wrote >him asking not to do this again. His return address is false, he does not >want to receive any mail regarding his posts. This is the cyberspace >equivalent of the glossy ads that come unwanted with your mail, or telephone >solicitation at dinner time. And there seems to be no way to stop it. He can >not be banned from the list, he does not belong! As far as I can tell >the only way to stop this sort of advertising spam is to make the list >moderated. As I pointed out at the beginning of this message, it is worse than telephone solicitation at dinnertime, because we can hang up the phone. It is more like telephone solicitation by a computer which refuses to hang up the line even if the listener puts down the receiver. But the point at the beginning of this message is that it takes control of our computers against our will. Much worse. Once we can get more people to recognize the seriousness of these violations, that they are *NOT* accidental missteps, perhaps we can do something about it, as in tracking the source of the messages even if from fake addresses? Or the internet can be modified to prevent use of false addresses? Use of false addresses could, like unsigned campaign material in some circumstances, be a crime. Lloyd Anderson ------------------------------ From: petworth@suba.com (Bill Thayer) Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 10:15:42 -0500 Subject: Re: 5 Days at End of Solar Year "Diane E. Wirth" <103533.131@compuserve.com> wrote: > I wonder, was this a common tradition throughout the ancient world? Roman as well: the Regifugium at the end of February (see Agnes Kirsopp Michels: The Calendar of the Roman Republic, Princeton, 1967, s.vv. _Regifugium_, _intercalation_, etc.); February being the end of the year; surviving in our one leapday being placed there rather than elsewhere. (and Romanizing, the sans-culotte days of the French Revolutionary calendar, after the end of Fructidor) Bill Thayer ------------------------------ From: Vincent DeCaen Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 11:56:26 -0400 (EDT) Subject: ANE Q? egyptology textbooks? I deeply regret having so little by way of egyptological studies, except for some work on Coptic. this is a bit of a problem if I have to teach a *general* ane course. sigh. so what I thought is, we might have a little fun comparing notes. so all the egyptology buffs out there, here's your chance to vote for best textbooks (up to three for a given category, can enter a book in more than one category, nonEnglish can be entered as 2 or 3 choice). 1. intro/history/culture for 100-level students 2. religion/culture for 100-level students 3. text for second half of ane course for 300-level students with some background and lots of archaeology courses. I'm really curious to see if there's a consensus. if not, it would be extremely h-e-l-pful to air views over differences. what say? - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Vincent DeCaen Hebrew Syntax Encoding Initiative http://www.epas.utoronto.ca:8080/~decaen/hsei/intro.html c/o Dept of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations 4 Bancroft Ave., 3d floor University of Toronto Toronto ON, M5S 1A1, CANADA - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ------------------------------ From: AMBROSER@woods.uml.edu Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 12:05:01 EDT Subject: spam and another 2 cents worth >Date: 10-APR-1996 03:15:45.73 >From: MX%"hic@tiac.net" >Return Add: MX%"hic@tiac.net"@MRGATE@WOODS >The zeal and energy with which you want to crush, humiliate and >permanently scar this Chen fellow suggests a style that is neither >democratic nor christian. The general by-laws that internet users >follow lets anyone say anything, given some guidelines about child >pornography, federal cryptographic secrets and things like that. > I suggest that you treat yourself to a wild and wonderful time >with your delete key. >A good christian would probably turn the other cheek and simple >delete it. >Poof, there, it's gone. Don't you feel better now?? In fact that's >what I did. Dear Howard, I don't usually respond to this type of situation although I hate sales pitches on the net. The internet does have suggested guidelines dealing with commercialism. What has been put forth is that basically we attempt to respect each others rights. I have joined a group that the almost universal consensus of our members is that we do not want any non subject related commercial advertising on our list and the vast majority of most of the other 1700 or so lists are known to be of the same mind. We are not bothering Chen and hiding behind a false address. His gambit was just wrong, he knows that, and he continues to do it. There can be no denying that. For what it is worth, in my opinion he should be cut off from having the ability to post to the lists. I realize that this is not technically possible but I don't know what else to do about this either. If one caused him to be booted of his account he would just open another under a false name. I do know this though, total anarchy would mean the death of the net for "civilized" people. Then the dark corridors of the net would be transversed by those who care only for themselves. In it's purest aspect, the law of the jungle dictates that only the biggest and nastiest survive and this is just not acceptable, even on this seemingly low level. You be a good Christian and turn the other cheek again, again, and again. I personally believe that at some point people should have to pay for their transgressions within their physical lifetime. robert ( now you can "poof" this ) ------------------------------ From: Sokar Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 13:17:08 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: ANE Q? egyptology textbooks? Mr. DeCaen, In answer to your request, here are my favorite texts for Egyptology: > 1. intro/history/culture for 100-level students Trigger, B.G., B.J. Kemp, D. O'Connor, and A.B. Lloyd. _Ancient History: A Social History_. (Cambridge, 1983). The anthropological take on Egyptian history. Gardiner, Alan. _Egypt of the Pharaohs_. (New York, 1961). The traditional Egyptological take on Egyptian history. Baines, John, and Jaromir Malek. _Atlas of Ancient Egypt_. (New York, 1980). A beautiful book with lots of very useful information for beginners. > 2. religion/culture for 100-level students Sauneron, Serge. _The Priests of Ancient Egypt_. (London, 1960). It is a terrible translation from the French, but it is STILL the most enjoyable and infomative book on Egyptian religion. If your students can read French, have them read the original instead though. Hornung, Erik. _Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt_ translated by John Baines. (Ithaca, 1971). A very readable and good introduction to Egyptian religious thought. Ritner, Robert. _The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice_ in SAOC 54, (Chicago, 1993). A major update on both of the above, this book brings Egyptian religion and magic into a clearer focus. > 3. text for second half of ane course for 300-level students with some > background and lots of archaeology courses. Do you mean for the later part of Egyptian History or just more advanced study? Geoffrey Graham Yale Universtiy Graduate Student sokar@minerva.cis.yale.edu ------------------------------ From: KNEMET@aol.com Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 13:31:18 -0400 Subject: Re: Linguistic Relationships Haviv- Yes, the Phoenicians carried their alphabet with them and the Greeks referred to theirs as "Phoenician things." The alphabets are similar in shape, order, names and their meaning for each letter, and numerical value for each letter. Karen R. Nemet-Nejat ------------------------------ From: cejo@midway.uchicago.edu (Charles E. Jones) Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 13:34:43 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Princeton seeks Hellenistic historian >>The Department of Classics at Princeton University offers a tenure-track >>assistant professorship in Ancient History. Area of specialization: the >>Greek world in any period between Alexander and Constantine. Expertise in >>epigraphy or papyrology an advantage. Applicants should be prepared to >>teach undergraduate and graduate courses in ancient history, Greek and Latin >>language courses, and classical literature in translation. Please send >>letter of application, curriculum vitae, dossier or three letter of >>recommendation, and a brief writing sample to: Professor Edward Champlin, >>History Search Committee, Department of Classics, Princeton University, >>Princeton, New Jersey 08544. Princeton University is an EEO/AA employer. >>Although this position is available from Fall 1996, applications are also >>welcomed from candidates who might take up the position in Fall, 1997. >>Deadline for receipt of applications: Friday, May 3, 1996. ------------------------------ From: cuibono@garnet.berkeley.edu Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 11:36:38 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Re: Abuse controlling others' computers while i appreciate lloyad anderson's comments and earnestness about the "seriousness " of these spam postings, i still balk at that the thoughtt hat they rise to the level of "crime." i seriously doubt, even challenge, anyone to find a CIVIL code that this violates. i'm not saying that there isn't one, but i would be surprised. earlier posts about "john chen", now known to be a pseudonym, were based, at least the one that i posted, on a presumption of innocence and without any particular knowledge about this personage's history. this entity's history with the internet in general may warrant a change in attitude, but as a general rule i find it far more reactionary to advocate booting people from the mailing list for what remains a fairly trivial and nugatory inconvenience: repeat offenders...that's a different story. chris hoffman ------------------------------ From: Linda Wright (by way of cejo@midway.uchicago.edu (Charles E. Jones)) Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 14:30:18 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Job for Hellenist @ Penn State (fwd) PENN STATE. Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Lecturer. The Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies invites applications for a one-year non-tenure-track position in Greek language and literature, to begin August 1996. The position may be renewed. The appointee will teach three courses per semester, including classical Greek language as well as Greek authors at the upper level. Teaching duties may also include sections of elementary Latin language and Classical Civilization. Demonstrated excellence in language teaching will be required. Ph.D. preferred. Salary will be $30,000. Applications received by May 3, 1996 will be assured consideration; however, all applications will be considered until the position is filled. Send application, curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference to Steve Mason, Professor and Head, Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Box C, 108 Weaver Building, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802-5500. An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Steve Mason Dept. of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies Pennsylvania State University sxm42@psu.edu 814-865-8851 jpc4@psu.edu Joe Cotter, Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies 403 Weaver Building, The Pennsylvania State University 814-865-2278/8851(message) http://squash.la.psu.edu/~jcotter/cotter.html ------------------------------ From: eugene.cruz-uribe@nau.edu (Eugene Cruz-Uribe) Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 16:15:31 -0700 (MST) Subject: egyptology textbooks? >If we limit it to Egyptology: >> >>1. intro/history/culture for 100-level students >> >Trigger, et al, Social History of ANcient Egypt. Have used a bunch. > >Grimal, History of Ancient Egypt. Not used yet, but a welcome update after suffering through the highly readable, but outdated Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs. > >Baine and Malek, Atlas of Ancient Egypt. > >>2. religion/culture for 100-level students >> >Am using this semester with good success, S. Quirke, Ancient Egyptian religion. Used R. David, Egyptian religion last time and it was a disaster. > >I think Hornung, Conceptions of God, may be a bit much for 100 level students. > > >>3. text for second half of ane course for 300-level students with some >>background and lots of archaeology courses. > >I would think for up level studetns that no text book be used, but rather specific articles addressing various aspects of a series of topics would be a much better approach. It would be more flexible for faculty and would give students an up to date view points. >> >> I hope this h-e-l-p-s. > >> > Eugene Cruz-Uribe Associate Dean College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Northern Arizona University P.O. Box 15700 Flagstaff, AZ 86001 eugene.cruz-uribe@nau.edu ------------------------------ From: David Lorton <103204.562@compuserve.com> Date: 10 Apr 96 19:42:33 EDT Subject: Egyptology textbooks I suspect it would be easy to find a consensus that the following are the best choices for an introductory course on Egyptian religion: Siegfried Morenz, Egyptian religion, trans. Ann E. Keep Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice, ed. Byron E. Shafer Erik Hornung, Idea into Image, trans. Elizabeth Bredek The three books are somewhat different, but any one of them is a respectable choice for a general treatment of Egyptian religion. Not quite an all-round book, but nevertheless close to one and quite interesting, is The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians: Cognitive Structures and Popular Expressions, ed. Gertie Englund. More specialized in their focus, but nevertheless important, are: Erik Hornung, Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many, trans. John Baines James P. Allen, Genesis in Egypt: The Philosophy of Ancient Egyptian Creation Accounts (After writing this, but before posting it, I noted the books by Sauneron and Ritner in Geoffrey Graham's posting. These had slipped my mind and should indeed be added to the above list of more specialized books.) All the above are English-language titles; fortunately, the important foreign-language books have been translated into English. There is an important French-language book that appeared recently: Dimitri Meeks and Christine Favard-Meeks, La Vie quotidienne des dieux egyptiens. This is filled with all sorts of wild and wonderful information, nearly all of which is missing from the other books on Egyptian religion. Fortunately, an English translation by G. M. Goshgarian will be published by Cornell University Press, probably by the end of this year. David Lorton ------------------------------ End of Ancient Near East Digest V3 #127 *************************************** Back issues are available by two means: anonymous FTP at oi.uchicago.edu in pub/ane/ OR on the World Wide Web (WWW) at ftp://oi.uchicago.edu/pub/ane/