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Friends of ASOR are people who are interested in archaeological and historical research in the eastern Mediterranean. Founded in 1900, ASOR supports and encourages the study of the cultures and history of the Near East, from the earliest times to the present. We invite you to register today so that you can join our team and receive exclusive benefits (The Ancient Near East Today and the Resource Page).

This weekly e-magazine disseminates ideas, insights and discoveries to Friends of ASOR. You can become a Friend for FREE, you only need to register. Appearing every Thursday, ANE Today features contributions from both emerging and established academics from around the world together with a round-up of links to news and resources. The ANE Today covers the entire Near East, and each issue presents discussions ranging from the state of biblical archaeology to archaeology after the Arab Spring. Sign up today for free, and be a part of this community of discovery!

Click here for more information on the FOA Webinar Series

UPCOMING WEBINARS

Friends of ASOR present the next webinar in the 2023-2024 season on March 21, 2024, at 6:00 pm EST, presented by Dr. Helen Malko. For the people of Mesopotamia, the past was a source of knowledge and inspiration. Their reverence, both in terms of preserving early buildings and monuments and reviving images and ancient writing styles, is evident in archaeological and textual records. While Mesopotamian monuments and images were produced as historical works, inscribed with texts that marked them clearly and linked them to specific events and times, their efficacy was understood to be unlimited. Dated to the reign of king Nazi-Maruttash (ca. 1307–1282 BCE), the stele of the Goddess Lama, currently in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, offers an excellent opportunity to explore Mesopotamian interaction with the past during the Kassite period (ca. 1574–1157 BCE). Through visual and textual analysis, this talk examines the survival of Lama imagery in this period. It reflects on the religious/political significance of the stele’s production within a broader context. The aim is to demonstrate that the crudely carved and seemingly unimaginative reuse of an earlier protective goddess figure was a deliberately archaizing image and an inspired citation of the past. This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants will be sent a link to view the recording.

The Friends of ASOR Resource Page is an online resource for all things ancient Near Eastern. The FOA Resource Page brings together far-flung links to libraries, publications, museums, exhibitions, projects, and much more. This page will be a prime destination for scholars, students, and lay people who want a master portal into the world of the ancient Near East. The page is still under development, so take the opportunity to tell us what kind of online resources would be useful to you. In the meanwhile, please explore the videos compiled on the Multimedia Resources.

Help Us Find Friends

Teachers! Professors! Are your students Friends of ASOR? It’s FREE.

Print our Friends of ASOR Sign-Up Sheet to circulate to your classes. Post or email the e-registration link for your students- Friends of ASOR Registration. To return the completed sign-up sheets, you can either scan or photograph the sheets using your phone and email them to membership@asor.org. You can also mail the hard copies to: ASOR, 209 Commerce Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 (pre-addressed and stamped envelopes available upon request).