ANE TODAY VOL III n2 (2015)

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February 2015

Vol. 3, No. 2

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, Vol. III, No. 2! This month, we’re delighted to take you from Iran to the Aegean, and from the questions raised by unprovenanced objects to the relationship between the Bible and archaeology.

We begin with Ralph Hawkins asking about the relationship between the Bible and archaeology. Benjamin Foster then looks at the difficult problem of acquiring and publishing unprovenanced cuneiform tablets. Helen Dawson discusses the colonization of Mediterranean islands, and Megan Cifarelli examines the difficult question of identifying gender using archaeological evidence. Finally, we’re pleased to present field reports from students who have received ASOR scholarships and to highlight a campaign to support students in the upcoming year.

As always, please forward articles from The Ancient Near East Today to family and friends, post links to Facebook and be in touch with the editor. Remember, being one of the Friends of ASOR is free![/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_column_text]

A Statement on Mesopotamian Antiquities Issues

By: Benjamin R. Foster

The Yale Babylonian Collection will not purchase, accept as a donation, or authenticate any Mesopotamian artifact that the curator has reason to believe was acquired by its current owner in violation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

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Gender and Jewelry at Hasanlu

By: Megan Cifarelli

How do we show others who we are? This problem was as present in antiquity as it is today. As an art historian, I’m particularly interested in the role that dress and personal adornment have played in the creation and expression of gendered identities in the past.

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Beyond the Sea: New Light on Mediterranean Colonization

By: Helen Dawson

Like a sea in continuous motion, Mediterranean communities are constantly changing and adapting through time, while paradoxically maintaining their distinctive character. As an archaeologist studying the earliest human colonization of the Mediterranean islands, I am interested in understanding when, where, and how people decided to settle the islands.

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The Bible, Archaeology, and the History of Early Israel

By: Ralph K. Hawkins

The problem of the relationship between the Bible and archaeology is an old one, and archaeological trends over the last several decades have shifted away from using the Bible. For those working in biblical or Near Eastern studies, however, the question has an abiding relevance.

[/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_column_text]The Ancient Near East Today features contributions from diverse academics, a forum featuring debates of current developments from the field, and 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.

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ANE TODAY VOL III n3 (2015)

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March 2015

Vol. 3, No. 3

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, Vol. III, No. 3! For our two-year anniversary, we’re pleased to take you from Mesopotamia to the Galilee, from high tech approaches to cuneiform tablets, to a careful look at some post-Biblical texts.

Lucinda Dirven takes us to the recently destroyed Parthian city of Hatra, with its impressive temples, elaborate sculpture and many inscriptions. Susan Docherty introduces the Pseudepigrapha, post-Biblical texts that provide a look into the mind of the early Jewish world. Jessica Dello Russo takes us on a tour of recently discovered Roman tombs in the Galilee and Robert Englund brings us up-to-date on the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative, which makes images of tablets available online. In our podcasts, ASOR president Susan Ackerman, and Syrian Heritage Project leaders Michael Danti and Scott Branting, bring us up to date on efforts to document destruction of sites in Syria and Iraq. As always, we’re also pleased to present reports from students who have received ASOR scholarships.

Please forward articles from The Ancient Near East Today to family and friends, post links to Facebook, and be in touch with the editor. Remember, being a part of Friends of ASOR is free![/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_column_text]

Hatra Image Gallery

Please take a look at the bellow photo gallery of Hatra circa 2009 and 2010. Brought to you by The Ancient Near East Today. With a special thank you to the photographers, Suzanne Bott and Col. Mary Prophit, US Army.

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From Banning to Changchun: Cuneiform Studies Online, Today and Tomorrow

By: Robert K. Englund

Paper publication of cuneiform artifact photographs has not progressed much since I was a graduate student in Germany in the 1980s. Instead, the advent of web-based text documentation has resulted in the availability, to cuneiform researchers and others.

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Introducing the Pseudepigrapha

By: Susan Docherty

The term “pseudepigrapha” is rather off-putting, conjuring up an image of ancient and difficult to understand texts that have little relevance to people today. In fact, this fascinating and wide-ranging literature, dating from approximately 300 BCE to 100CE.

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Hatra, The Lesser Known Splendors of a Parthian Frontier Town

By: Lucinda Dirven

With threats to the antiquities of Syria and Iraq growing daily, so too does the imperative to document fast disappearing sites. But in January 2015 what historians and archaeologists had feared since IS took possession of Mosul finally happened.

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Tomb Tracking: A New Burial Survey of Roman Galilee (1st-6th cent. CE)

By: Jessica Dello Russo

Eldad Keynan, a native of Israel’s Galilee region, finishes a lunch of hummus and pita on the outskirts of the Christian town of Mailia, and engages in the customary post-prandial coffee with none other than the restaurant owner, an agile widow in her mid-seventies who keeps a baby stroller below the counter and faded posters of Italian soccer stars on her eatery’s inner walls.

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ANE TODAY VOL III n4 (2015)

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April 2015

Vol. 3, No. 4

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, Vol. III, No. 4! For the spring holiday season, we go from the world of Jesus to the contemporary antiquities crises in the Middle East.

Joan Taylor looks at the perennial problem of what Jesus ‘really’ looked like. Helen Jacobus examines the intriguing evidence for zodiac calendars at Qumran. Meanwhile, Brice Jones discusses the disturbing phenomenon of online sales of papyrus documents and Michael Kozuh reviews the career of a Mesopotamian schemer. In our Friends of ASOR Podcast this month, we talk to former ASOR President Tim Harrison about the question of who the Philistines were.

Please forward articles from The Ancient Near East Today to family and friends, post links to Facebook, and be in touch with the editor. Remember, being a Friend of ASOR is free![/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]

What did Jesus look like?

By: Joan E. Taylor

Everyone knows what Jesus looks like: he is the most painted figure in all of western art, recognized everywhere as having long hair and a beard, a long robe with sleeves (often white) and a mantle (often blue). But what did he really look like, as a man living in Judaea in the 1st century?

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Manager or Miscreant? The Strange Career of Gimillu of Uruk

By: Michael Kozuh

From around 540 to 520 BC cuneiform texts from the Eanna of Uruk, a temple in southern Babylonia, detail the unusual activities of a man named Gimillu, son of Innin-shuma-ibni. Those activities, long known to researchers, include stealing temple’s sheep, fleeing from temple authorities, and continually standing in front of temple tribunals.

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Ancient Papyri Online and for Sale

By: Brice C. Jones

Over the last decade, we have witnessed a growing fascination with ancient papyri from Egypt. By now, most people have heard of the Gospel of Judas, published in 2006, the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife, which made headlines in 2014, or, most recently, the controversial fragment of the Gospel of Mark that is reputed to have been extracted from Egyptian mummy cartonnage.

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Zodiac Calendars and Angelic Teaching in the Dead Sea Scrolls

By: Helen R. Jacobus

Angels are often associated with secret knowledge but not usually with authentic mathematics. In several of the Dead Sea Scrolls there is a complicated network of parallel stories in which angels impart secret knowledge of the calendar, astronomy, astrology and divination to humans before the Flood.

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ANE TODAY VOL III n5 (2015)

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May 2015

Vol. 3, No. 5

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, Vol. III, No. 5! As spring gives way to summer, we take you from Mesopotamia of the Sumerians and Babylonian Exile to modern Afghanistan, by way of Biblical Turkey.

We lead off with a report from ASOR’s Syrian Heritage Initiative, detailing recent damage to parts of the Assyrian city of Nimrud. Yigal Block then introduces new information on the lives of Judeans in Babylonia, and Mark Wilson explains the background to his guidebook, Biblical Turkey. Davide Nadali and Andrea Polcaro bring us up to date on their excavations at Tell Surghul in southern Iraq, and Suzanne E. Bott and her colleagues review an important training program for Afghanistan’s beleaguered cultural heritage specialists.

As always, please forward articles from The Ancient Near East Today to family and friends, post links to Facebook, and be in touch with the editor. Remember, being a Friend of ASOR is free![/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_column_text]

Living and Working in the Shadow of the Seven Churches

By: Mark Wilson

I first came to Turkey in 1992 during my doctoral research on the Book of Revelations. My visit to the Seven Churches – the seven early churches or congregations mentioned in the Book of Revelations – was life-changing. The experience birthed in me a desire to introduce others to this amazing land that, after Israel, has more biblical sites than any other country.

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Working in Sumer: the New Italian Archaeological Expedition at Nigin, Southern Iraq

By: Davide Nadali and Andrea Polcaro

Despite Iraq’s troubles, archaeological research continues to expand. The Italian Archeological Expedition to Tell Surghul, ancient Nigin, started in February 2015 (Map). The project is a joint effort by Sapienza University of Rome (Davide Nadali) and Perugia University (Andrea Polcaro).

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Professional Education for Afghan Cultural Heritage Faculty at the University of Arizona

By: Suzanne E. Bott, R. Brooks Jeffery, Atifa Rawan, and Nancy Odegaard

Archaeologists estimate there are more than 5000 archaeological sites in Afghanistan, but not all have been identified. And after three decades of war and neglect, Afghan sites and artifacts are in serious need of trained staff, proper site management, security, funding, national and international commitment, and development of advocacy and awareness programs.

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New Sources and Insights on Judeans in the Babylonian Exile

By: Yigal Bloch

The biblical books of Kings and Jeremiah present the narrative of the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the exile of its inhabitants to Babylonia by Nebuchadnezzar II (2 Kgs. 24-25; Jer. 39:1-10; 52). Given the presence of Judeans in Babylonia.

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ANE TODAY VOL III n6 (2015)

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June 2015

Vol. 3, No. 6

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, Vol. III, No. 6! This month we are pleased to take you from childhood in Sumer to adulthood in Assyria, with stops to consider Israelite genetics and American high school curricula.

We begin with an urgent report from ASOR’s Syrian Heritage Initiative on the site of Palmyra, recently occupied by ISIL. Aaron Brody and Roy King present a provocative examination by of how modern genetic studies are beginning to inform us regarding the ancestry of the Israelites. Vitali Bartash then looks at childhood in Sumer and Tracy Spurrier reviews the questionable health of Assyrian queens. Amanda Podany looks at the unhappy state of the Near East in American high school curricula. Finally, with the summer excavation season in full swing we look back at past work by students funded by ASOR Scholarships.

Genetics and the Archaeology of Ancient Israel

By: Aaron J. Brody and Roy J. King

Who were the ancient Israelites? This question has been endlessly debated but almost no attention has been paid to their biology. That is now about to change, and review of modern DNA studies gives hints to the wealth of information that might be gleaned.

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The Life and Health of Assyrian Queens

By: Tracy L. Spurrier

When great Queen Yaba’ of Nimrud passed away, she left a curse to those who would dare disturb her final resting place. Despite her warning, excavations from 1988 to 1990 in the northwest palace of King Assurnasirpal II in the ancient city of Nimrud revealed the existence of hers, and a number of other royal tombs dating to the Neo-Assyrian period (ca. 900-600 BC).

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Reaching out to the Public about the Ancient Near East

By: Amanda H. Podany

The terrible human toll and the recent destruction of archaeological sites have kept the Near East at the top of the headlines. But just what are students really being taught about the ancient world? According to state curriculum standards, just about every child in the United States learns about the history of the ancient Near East at some point.

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Children in Ancient Sumer: How Much Do We Know?

By: Vitali Bartash

Children constitute a large portion of any society. But the meaning of childhood varies from one society to another. This results in specific habits of child caring and raising, their legal status and overall life conditions. Childhood is more than just a biological stage in human development, it is also a social and political concept.

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ANE TODAY VOL III n7 (2015)

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July 2015

Vol. 3, No. 7

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, Vol. III, No. 7! In this issue we take you from the foothills of the Judean Mountains to the Egyptian desert, and from the mid-twentieth century back to the Bronze Age.

We begin with Avi Faust and Haya Katz recapping the excavations at the important Iron Age site of Tel ‘Eton in Israel. Juan Carlos Moreno García then looks at the question of bureaucrats and natural resources in ancient Egypt. Karel Innemée reviews the development of monasticism in Egypt, while Amara Thonton looks at the life of British archaeologist Gerald Lankester Harding.

Finally, we bring you another report from ASOR’s Syrian Heritage Initiative, looking at the damage to antiquities and heritage in Syria and Iraq and the international responses.

As always, please forward articles from The Ancient Near East Today to family and friends, post links to Facebook, and be in touch with the editor. Remember, being a Friend of ASOR is free![/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_column_text]

Excavating Over Two Thousand Years of History at Tel ‘Eton

By: Avraham Faust and Hayah Katz

Tel ‘Eton, usually identified with biblical Eglon, is a 6.6 hectare mound located in Israel’s lowland (the Shephelah), at the edge of the trough valley which separates the lowlands from the Judean highlands. The ancient city is situated near an important junction on the north–south road and the east–west road that connected the coastal plain with Hebron.

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Land, Water, and Wood: Managing Resources in Ancient and Modern Egypt

By: Juan Carlos Moreno García

Egypt has the aura of an unchanged landscape. But how much of what we see today and in the recent past really applies to antiquity? Are they in fact two fundamentally different entities? And what do the similarities between past and present tell us about the future of Egypt?

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Egyptian Monasticism: The Growth of the Solitary Life

By: Karel Innemée

Monasticism and asceticism are not exclusive to Christianity. Buddhism has a tradition of monasteries and a life of abstinence that is centuries older and in Judaism we find predecessors to Christian monasticism that have many similarities. The Essenes, a community in the Judean desert, practiced a life of religious devotion and abstinence.

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Our Man in Transjordan?

By: Amara Thornton

The middle decades of the 20th century are often considered a ‘romantic’ era in archaeology. The romance is debatable, but without doubt those excavating during this period have acquired a mystique that continues to fascinate. Gerald William Lankester Harding is one of these figures.

[/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″][vc_column_text]The Ancient Near East Today features contributions from diverse academics, a forum featuring debates of current developments from the field, and 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.

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ANE TODAY VOL III n8 (2015)

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August 2015

Vol. 3, No. 8

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today, Vol. III, No. 8! In this issue we go from the Exodus to the problem of teaching ancient Near Eastern text, and from the politics of Roman milestones to the ideology behind ISIL’s treatment of the past.

We begin with Tom Levy discussing an important new multidisciplinary book on the Exodus, while Christopher Hayes turns to the problem of ancient texts and modern textbooks for teaching the ancient Near East. On a darker note, Lucinda Dirvin puts ISIL’s murderous iconoclasm in historical context, while Marlena Whiting looks at the hidden messages of power on Roman milestones. Finally, we take a look back at reports from last year’s ASOR fellowship recipients.

Policemen in 1st millennium BC Babylonia

By: Reinhard Pirngruber

There is always crime and sometimes there is punishment. But where do policemen come from? The exceptionally abundant cuneiform documentation from Babylonia dating to the period of the Neo-Babylonian (626-539 BCE) and Achaemenid Empires (539-331 BCE) yields, among others, tens of thousands of legal and administrative tablets.

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Iconoclasm in the ‘Islamic State’

By: Lucinda Dirven

This spring ISIS posted several videos on the Internet showing militants destroying centuries-old artifacts and buildings in northern Iraq, the region that since the summer of 2014 belongs within their so-called ‘caliphate.’

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Milestones in Late Antique Palaestinae and Arabia

By: Marlena Whiting

Travellers have always needed to know where they are in order to get where they wanted to go. Milestones are a universal feature of the road system of the Roman Empire. They occur from Britain to Arabia, and are especially plentiful in the eastern provinces, including Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and Arabia.

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Teaching the Hidden Riches of the Ancient Near East

By: Christopher B. Hays

Anyone who spends time with Ancient Near Eastern texts knows their joys and wonders. But making them come alive in students’ imaginations can be a challenge. Most students come to college and graduate school with at most a glimpse of Hammurabi or Rameses II from a world history class and are prone to think of Roman antiquity as impossibly old.

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Israel’s Exodus from Egypt Featured in Groundbreaking New Book

By: Thomas E. Levy

Was there an Israelite Exodus from Egypt? Are there new ways to approach the Exodus from outside the Bible? The answer to the second question is yes. A new book presents findings from some of the world’s top scholars who met recently at University of California, San Diego, (UCSD).

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ANE TODAY VOL III n9 (2015)

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September 2015

Vol. 3, No. 9

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today Vol. 3, No. 9! In this issue we cover over 350,000 years, from the advent of fire to the destruction of sites in Syria and Iraq.

We begin with Reinhard Pirngruber’s look at policemen in Mesopotamia. From there we turn to James Strange on Jewish life at Shikhin in the Southern Galilee, then Ron Shimelmitz discusses of new evidence for the first use of fire. Columba Stewart describes the work of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, photographing Christian manuscripts in Syria and Iraq. We are pleased to present an image gallery of some of those manuscripts. Finally, we include a special set of links reviewing the ongoing destruction and looting of antiquities in Syria.

Special Feature: Syria Destruction Update

News accounts and propaganda videos continue to report ISIL’s destruction of archaeological sites in Syria, and the ongoing devastation caused by the civil war. The Ancient Near East Today is sad to present a series of the most recent links discussing these situations.

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Shikhin Between Jews and Romans

By: James Riley Strange

Most archaeological sites in the ancient world are important for one reason or another. But every once in awhile, archaeologists uncover one that that helps them solve long-standing problems, or that opens up a new tin of questions that must be answered.

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Hill Museum & Manuscript Library: Manuscripts Image Gallery

Through the courtesy of Dr. Columba Stewart OSB and the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, we are pleased to present a sample of monastic manuscripts scanned in Syrian collections. These pages provide a hint of the treasures that have been preserved and those that have been lost.

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Hill Museum & Manuscript Library: Working to Preserve the Manuscript Heritage of Syria and Iraq

By: Columba Stewart, OSB

The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota (HMML) began in 1965 as a project to microfilm monastic libraries in Cold War Europe. The Benedictine monks of Saint John’s Abbey were concerned that their European heritage could be destroyed in a nuclear war, and were determined to take precautionary measures.

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Fire: a Burning Issue in Human Evolution

By: Ron Shimelmitz

ire is reflected in almost every aspect of our mundane existence; its use and control constitutes an essential part of material life. From cooking our meals to the various materials we use, the products of pyrotechnology, fire is also an intimate component in human social life.

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ANE TODAY VOL III n10 (2015)

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October 2015

Vol. 3, No. 10

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today Vol. 3, No. 10! In this issue we go from ancient music to ancient artifacts, with stops in the first century and an attic in Jerusalem.

We begin with Howard Feldman’s reminiscence of the science behind the controversial Jehoash tablet. Next is Scott Gleaves’ provocative discussion about whether Jesus spoke Greek rather than Aramaic. Rachel Hallote takes us into uncharted territory: the Albright Institute’s attic. Uri Gabbay reviews the surprisingly ample evidence for music in Mesopotamia. With summer field seasons over, we’re proud to take a look at new reports from recipients of ASOR scholarships.

Music in Ancient Mesopotamia

By: Uri Gabbay

We have a wealth of sources from ancient Mesopotamia: archeological, iconographical, and, most significantly, textual. Hundreds of thousands of cuneiform tablets in collections around the world shed light on the everyday life, economy, law, literature, and religion of ancient Mesopotamia.

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Excavating the Albright Institute’s Attic

By: Rachel Hallote

Many ASOR members who excavate in Israel use the Albright Institute’s attic for storage—it’s a convenient place to keep ceramics and other excavation materials, as well as summer dig clothes. It’s just like any other attic. But it is also a kind of archaeological site in itself.

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Did Jesus Speak Greek?

By: G. Scott Gleaves

Did Jesus and his disciples speak and teach in Greek? What languages were spoken in first century Palestine? If so, does the New Testament preserve their actual communications?

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The Jehoash Affair: A Personal Recollection

By: Howard R. Feldman

In recent years few artifacts have captured as much attention as the Jehoash inscription. The dark stone tablet, only 10 inches by 12 inches, bears a 15 line Hebrew inscription describing renovations made to the Jerusalem temple by the Judean king Jehoash, son of Ahaziya, around the year 800 BCE.

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ANE TODAY VOL III n11 (2015)

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November 2015

Vol. 3, No. 11

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″][vc_column_text]Welcome to The Ancient Near East Today Vol. III, No. 11! In this issue we go from Israel to Rhodes, from Turkey to Denmark, with a stop in Syria.

We begin with Richard Freund’s discussion of the ancient and modern Jewish presence on the island of Rhodes. Mara Horowitz then brings us up to date on the renewed excavations at the enormous site of Alalakh in Turkey, then Flemming Kaul and Jeanette Varberg discuss tiny finds – glass beads – that open entirely new perspectives on trade, between Denmark and Egypt.

As part of our continuing coverage of the cultural heritage crisis in Syria and Iraq, we present a page of important new reports and news links. We also are proud to link to ASOR’s journals, and, as always, to reports from students supported by ASOR scholarships.

Between Ancient Rhodes and Israel: Comparing Literary and Material Cultures

By: Richard Freund

The ancient Mediterranean world was formed of countless interconnections. I have been working at Bethsaida, a city by the north shore of the Sea of Galilee for the past 25 years. Part of our work has been to map the roads system connecting Bethsaida to the coast and to the Mediterranean beyond.

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Introducing the Lanier Theological Library

By: Mark Lanier

What do Madame Gertrude Bell, Cappadocian Fathers, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Nuzi tablets, Dead Sea Scroll fragments, Moshe Goshen-Gottstein, and William Hallo have in common? They have all found a home, of sorts, at the Lanier Theological Library (“LTL”) in Houston, Texas.

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A Call for the Preservation of Heritage Landscapes in the United Arab Emirates

By: Ronald Hawker

I always say that the best semester of my academic career was my sabbatical, when I spent six months combing through the dusty abandoned farms and hamlets of Ras al-Khaimah on a research project funded by Zayed University and an Emirates Foundation grant in the winter of 2011.

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Narrative Literature of Hurrian Origin: Moving Treasures from the Ancient Near East

By: Mauro Giorgieri

The Hurrians were one of the most important civilizations of the Ancient Near East but we have far less linguistic, historical and archaeological information about them than the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, or Hittites. Hurrian epic poems are also a fascinating but lesser known aspect of Ancient Near Eastern literary traditions. Read more[/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”10″][vc_column_text]

Who’s the Fairest of them all? Feminine Beauty in the Hebrew Bible and Iron Age Ivory Sculpture

By: Amy Rebecca Gansell

From fairy tales to fashion magazines, notions of feminine beauty pervade the world we live in. But what does the Hebrew Bible have to say about this topic? And how might archaeological artifacts help us to see and understand ancient beauty?

[/vc_column_text][mk_divider thickness=”1″ margin_top=”0″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]The Ancient Near East Today features contributions from diverse academics, a forum featuring debates of current developments from the field, and 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.

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