A fragmentary cuneiform tablet from the Ophel (Jerusalem) : methodological musings about the proposed genre and Sitz im Leben

Abstract: It is here argued that the genre and historical context of the cuneiform tablet from Jerusalem (“Jerusalem 1”) cannot be determined with certitude. There are simply not enough cuneiform signs preserved to facilitate such an assessment. Of course, the mineralogical analyses are useful and do demonstrate that the soil used to make the tablet was from the region of Jerusalem, but this fact cannot be construed as demonstrating that the tablet was an international letter. Rather, I believe that this fragmentary tablet could have been (among other things) some sort of literary document, some sort of letter, or some sort of legal document. Not much more than this can be said about its genre.Resumen: En este trabajo se postula que no se puede determinar con certeza el género y el contexto histórico de la tablilla cuneiforme de Jerusalén (“Jerusalén 1”). Simplemente, no se han preservado suficientes signos cuneiformes para facilitar dicha comprobación. Si bien es cierto que los análisis mineralógicos resultan útiles y demuestran que el material utilizado para realizar las tabillas proviene de la región de Jerusalén, este hecho no puede ser utilizado para demostrar que la tablilla era una carta internacional. Más bien, creo que esta tablilla fragmentaria pudo haber sido (entre otras cosas) algún tipo de documento literario, o alguna clase de carta o documento legal. No puede decirse mucho más sobre su género

Biblical and ancient near eastern studies in honor of P. Kyle Mccarter jr.

The breadth of P. Kyle McCarter Jr.’s teaching is particularly impressive. For example, as part of the three-year history cycle (a year of Mesopotamian history, a year of Egyptian history, and a year of Syro-Palestinian history) at Johns Hopkins University, Kyle consistently taught the Syro-Palestinian history course. This course was a foundational course for all graduate students in the program. Kyle would cover not only the history of the Levant, but he would also integrate much of Mesopotamian and Egyptian history because of the many ways in which the history of the entire region intersected at so many levels. He also often taught the Dead Sea Scrolls, historical Hebrew grammar, Ugaritic, textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible (with emphasis not just on variant readings in the Masoretic Text, but also the textual evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls, LXX, and the Vulgate), Northwest Semitic Epigraphy (with a full repertoire, for example, of Phoenician, Hebrew, Aramaic, Moabite, Ammonite texts), the Canaanite of the Amarna Letters, and, of course, various biblical text courses in the original languages. On occasion, upon first arriving at Hopkins from the University of Virginia, he even taught Akkadian. This was not all, of course—he also taught a course in the history of medicine, a course which was especially in demand among pre-meds. For many years, he even taught a master’s course in the Arthurian legends. Although he never taught a course in the writings of Mark Twain, he certainly could have, since he would often regale us with apt quotes from Twain. Indeed, the breadth of Kyle’s knowledge knows no bounds..

Epigraphy, philology, and the hebrew bible : methodological perspectives on philological and comparative study of the hebrew bible in honor of Jo Ann Hackett

Introduction: "The present volume comprises a set of contradictions. It is simultaneously a Festschrift—usually conceived as a collection of essays honoring a colleague, teacher, and friend—and a volume designed with the graduate classroom in mind and organized around a few common themes. And whereas a few of the essays are typical exemplars of the genre of “introductory” or “overview” essay and reflecting engagement with the wider approaches to the disciplines at hand, many of the articles herein are specialized papers featuring a theoretical or methodological orientation appropriate to specific modes of study. This format, then, does not fit easily within any of the genres that are common within the fields of Biblical Studies and Northwest Semitic Philology. Yet, the constituent essays of this volume have been composed with two purposes: First, despite their eclectic and broadly-interested diversity of topics, these papers all attempt to grapple with specific problems associated with one of three topics that Professor Jo Ann Hackett has devoted her career to understanding: philological study of the Northwest Semitic languages; the study of epigraphic exemplars of those same languages; and the religious traditions of Israel and its neighbors in the Southern Levant, as reconstructed from the perspective(s) offered in the Hebrew Bible. Secondly, these articles are all oriented towards the educational context of graduate-level students of these same fields of study. These complementary goals are modeled on both the research and pedagogical work of Professor Hackett...

Archaelogy and history of eighth-century Judah

Resumen: Ensayos de un grupo internacional de expertos sobre el antiguo Cercano Oriente y la Biblia hebrea que honran el trabajo pionero de Oded Borowski en la arqueología y la historia del antiguo Israel y Judá. Los colaboradores abordan la cuestión de lo que sabemos del Judá del siglo VIII desde múltiples ángulos, incluyendo un estudio de los vecinos de Judá, la tierra de Judá y sus ciudades, la vida diaria y la cultura material, las creencias y prácticas religiosas, y las primeras formas de lo que ahora son los textos bíblicos. Entre los colaboradores se encuentran Rami Arav, Shawn Zelig Aster, Assaf Avraham, Jeffrey A. Blakely, Sandra Blakely, Elizabeth Bloch-Smith, Efrat Bocher, Erin Darby, Jennie Ebeling, Zev I. Farber, Avraham Faust, Daniel E. Fleming, Yuval Gadot, Kristine Garroway, Seymour Gitin, James W. Hardin, Gilad Itach, Hayah Katz, Reinhard G. Kratz, Joel M. LeMon, Shani Libi, Oded Lipschits, Donald Redford, Christopher Rollston, Bruce Routledge, Yair Sapir, Konrad Schmid, Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, Brent A. Strawn, Andy Vaughn, Jacob L. Wright, y K. Lawson Younger Jr. Características: - Énfasis en la influencia de Asiria en las culturas políticas, religiosas y materiales de Judá; Múltiples modelos para las primeras etapas de la escritura y composición bíblica; Información actualizada sobre tipologías de cerámica