Near Eastern Studies

The purpose of this paper is to provide a case for the Exodus mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as a historical event. In an academic environment where most people simply ignore certain parts of the Bible due to the so-called "supernatural" aspects, debates like this ultimately go around in circles more than necessary. The first body paragraphs of this paper, therefore, tackle the stigmas which keep the Exodus from being considered as a serious topic from which history can be determined in one way or another, beginning with a supposed lack of archaeological evidence which, ironically, is rather comparable to what is only slightly more available for the Scythians as compared to the Hebrews. The rest of the papers deals in various historical, linguistic, cultural, geographical, and literary contexts  from which the historicity of the event in question can be sufficiently determined in either the affirmative or negative. The coherence of the arguments made herein will be left up to all the qualified scholars in related fields to determine.

This paper will discuss the political and legal aspects of the maritime disputes in the Eastern Mediterranean and the factors relevant to their conciliation. The first part of the paper introduces the Mediterranean Sea and the relevance of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) regime in its basins. Subsequently, the author summarizes relevant historical cleavages in the Levant Basin, with a focus on relevant modern Lebanese-Israeli, Lebanese-Syrian and inter-Cypriot events. Part III will discuss the increasing interest in EEZ delimitation over the past decade due to hydrocarbon prospects in the Eastern Mediterranean and the geopolitical and maritime challenges that have since taken shape. Finally, based on the Law of the Sea and previous examples from around the world, the author discusses relevant legal avenues for achieving balanced solutions to maritime tensions in the region and presents the most relevant criteria in delimiting maritime boundaries.

The King's Two Bodies- Reflexion on the Symbolic of Power

Among the so-called Mari Prophetic Letters, one interesting text (ARM X 10) reports a cheerful vision of the king's return. The king, as usual, is acclaimed by the soldiers, in a formal exhibition of loyalty. Incidebtly, the scene occurs on two larges boats blocking the river course. The narrative also mentions several insigna embedded within the military acclamations. Since the symbolic character of the omen is highly significant, I discuss the account through interpretative ethnography.

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/716031

Babylonian hermeneutics has been the subject of several studies in recent years that have showed that speculative thought exploited the potentiality of the cuneiform system through analogical reasoning in order to find and create new meanings according to phonetic, semantic and graphic similarities. Analogical hermeneutics was prompted by the polysemic and homophonic nature of cuneiform writing and was intended as an inquiry into the cuneiform system itself. Analogical reasoning is also well known in ancient Greece particularly in Heraclitus producing semantic proliferation and ambiguity. A comparison between Mesopotamian and Greek sources shows that Heraclitus’ fragments share with cuneiform scholarship a similar epistemic reasoning based on analogy. The present contribution aims at setting the Babylonian epistemological system in light of Heraclitus' philosophy.

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the phenomenon frequently called the “Ubaid expansion” or “Ubaid interaction sphere” in which the material culture of Southern Mesopotamia appears in Upper Mesopotamia and the bordering mountains during the 6th-5th millennium. The paper will also attempt to explain how did the “Ubaid expansion” contribute to the formation of hierarchical societies in Greater Mesopotamia. Indeed, the biggest weakness of the model of expansion (drawn from the subsequent “Uruk expansion”) is that it ignores multiregional character of the Ubaid interaction sphere and describes the culture contact between south and north Mesopotamia as a core-periphery dichotomy. Uruk expansion was probably an actual colonial phenomenon, but it is difficult to use the same argument to explain the “Ubaid expansion”. Several arguments (exchange, colonization, emulation and technology transfer) have been proposed for the widespread dissemination of Ubaid material culture in Upper Mesopotamia. The present paper proposes to outline and discuss these competing arguments in the hope of contributing to the early complex societies literature and to answer how and why the Ubaid expansion emerged.

In Interpreting Ancient Egyptian Narratives, Martin Pehal applies structural analysis to four New Kingdom narrative compositions. The study explains the strong configurational character of ancient Egyptian (mythological) thought which has the ability to connect various ontological levels of human experience with the surrounding world into complex synchronic structures. These symbolical systems are shown to be mediating between the various cultural paradoxes which were inherent to ancient Egyptian society. Axial role in this process is attributed to the institution of positional kingship represented by the Pharaoh. Its transformative function is also put into relation to the special status of female characters who are shown to play the part of the “powerful powerless ones” further personifying the aspects of the mediating function of myth. Gradually, the study outlines a genuinely Egyptian “structural net” of basic mythemes and explains in what way it was possible for such a system to change and incorporate foreign mythological motifs especially from the Near East.

PDF ON REQUEST
Dynastic connections in the Arsacid Empire and the origins of the House of Sāsān, in: The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires: Adaptation and expansion, Editors: Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis; Elizabeth Pendleton; Touraj Daryaee; Michael Alram, Oxford and Philadelphia: Oxbow, 2016, 23-35.

See http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/the-parthian-and-early-sassanian-empires.html [Published by the British Institute of Persian Studies (BIPS) Archaeological Monographs Series]

ABSTRACT
The old rivalry between branches of the Parthian royal house
and clans, including the Younger (western) Arsacids, the
Gondopharids in Indo-Parthia, the Sūrēn and Kārin, revived
when a rebellion broke out in Persis under the leadership
of Ardashir I, son of the Gondopharid prince Sāsān. The
connections between the Gondopharids of Sakastan and
the Sūrēn with Persis under Ardashir eventually led to the
overthrow of the Younger Arsacids.
A comparison of the diverse traditions about Sāsān shows
that the Persian writings and Sasanian inscriptions were
manipulated for specific political reasons. The Shahnameh
tradition traces Sāsān’s ancestry to the late Kayanids, harking
back to the historical Achaemenids. The same tradition
suggests that the ancestral seat of Sāsān’s forebears was in
India, where they had fled in fear of Alexander. Sāsān was
in fact a member of the Arsacid Gondopharid line, the ruling
dynasty of Indo-Parthia, who reigned in Afghanistan and the
north-western regions of India. Even under Farn-Sāsān they
held Sakastan, Arachosia and probably part of Sind.
Most probably Sāsān was the father of Ardashir, as
indicated by the Shahnameh, Agathias and the Armenian
authors, and as implied by Narseh’s inscription at Paikuli.
The coins and inscriptions of Ardashir I and Shapur I say
Ardashir I was the son of Pābag. Tabari, Kārnāmāg and
Bundahishn give a version that Ardashir’s father was Pābag,
but include Sāsān in the genealogy.
For reasons of propaganda Ardashir I, and later Shapur I,
endeavoured to downplay Sāsān’s role, so as not to be
perceived in Persis/Fars as a foreign dynasty. The paradox
is that, assuming Sāsān was Ardashir’s father, the Sasanian
dynasty in fact had a Parthian, and perhaps even an Arsacid
ancestry. Moreover, the early Sasanians built up their empire
thanks to the support of the chief clans of Parthia including
the Sūrēn and Kārin. That is why the Sasanian Ērānšahr
has been referred to as “the empire of the Persians and
Parthians”. And that is why Ammianus perceived the royal
house of Persia as the Arsacids.

ABSTRACT: Preface to the Guide:

Focus and limitations:
The compilation of this guide began in Spring 2007 as a series of check lists and book requests for the somewhat small collection of Egyptological and related works in M. H. Sterne library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  During the development of several courses on Ancient Egypt, the Ancient Near East, and other areas spanning Prehistory through to the Roman period (and later), the collection grew, and continues to expand, and began to require a research paper guide for students enrolled in courses dealing with these geographic areas and time periods. The nature of the prime cliental, namely undergraduate to MA students in a North American setting, in conjunction with limited funding, has steered  –of necessity– the building of both Sterne library’s collections and this guide towards mostly English-language sources, less expensive works, and more easily available and more recent publications.

Overall aims:
In order to maximize student and public research usage of the existing, albeit still limited, collections, I have since compiled and incorporated selected journal articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and other book titles from Sterne Library’s physical holdings (i.e., non-electronic sources) into diverse categories of research topics/subjects.  In addition, every effort has been made to add a full listing of electronic sources (including links) available to researchers of the geographic and temporal areas covered by this guide (i.e., mainly Prehistoric to Roman period Egypt).  The guide also provides general assistance for more serious/professional scholars (i.e., a quick reference to key articles, chapters, and volumes), but remains a tool aimed at English-speaking undergraduate-MA students and the public, focusing on Sterne’s holdings (note: other emerging Egyptological libraries will also approximate Sterne’s holdings).

Design and usage:
An attempt has been made to obtain sources spanning all aspects of Ancient Egypt and related areas, which have in-turn influenced the subdivision of the guide into general works, time periods, and diverse subject areas. Some of these categories have grown sufficiently large to merit further subdivision, such as the New Kingdom section, which has a general list of sources, materials regarding individual rulers, and a few affiliated topics of interest (Exodus; Sea Peoples).  I have attempted to place each source (i.e., books; book chapters; encyclopedia entries; journal articles) under each pertinent topic category that it covers, but naturally I may have missed some categories, while there may be other complementary and broader works that cover such topics elsewhere.  A list of the pertinent call number ranges has been placed at the end of the guide (see table of contents) to assist in the merits of additional shelf-browsing.

Beyond the guide:
Naturally there are numerous significant Egyptological sources outside Sterne Library’s holdings (including electronic links: e.g., JSTOR) that might be retrieved via interlibrary loan.  Sterne Library’s current Egyptological resources, however, are sufficient to introduce most areas of Egyptological research, and enable the researcher to consult the endnotes/footnotes and bibliographic data listed in recent books, articles, and encyclopedia entries to compile a list of further resources that may either be accessed via interlibrary loan, or possibly by visiting directly a neighbouring professional Egyptological library: e.g., the instructor (UAB); Atlanta (Emory University); Memphis (Memphis State University).

The collections in other Birmingham and Alabama libraries have online links via Sterne Library’s website, and offer many duplicate and different Egyptological works that are often accessible to the public/students: e.g., Birmingham Public Library, Gorgas Library (UA).  Naturally, I encourage students, faculty, and public researchers to see me for further assistance with this guide and their research topics.

Gregory Mumford (UAB)
Update: 15 Jan., 2021

PLEASE NOTE: This resource has received substantial updates in pertinent sections within the guide.  Some additional sorting of various articles/entries is still required, but these articles can be found, unsorted, at the end of the guide (e.g., articles from KMT, JSSEA, EA, etc., listed chronologically and by issue). I anticipate another update in the following year ...

RESUMEN Este estudio se orienta hacia la parte menos conocida de la vida de ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr, la de los años previos a la guerra civil. Me centro en su relación con lo militar en el contexto de las guerras que dieron paso al nacimiento del islam como entidad política. Y lo hago tomando como eje tres momentos en los que ella aparece como protagonista directa o indirecta, y en este último caso saltando las barreras sociales. Una ʿĀʾisha más cercana a una "señora de la guerra" que a una matrona musulmana. ABSTRACT This study deals with the lesser known part of the life of ʿĀʾisha bint Abī Bakr, namely the years prior to the civil war. I focus on her relationship with the military in the context of the wars which led to the birth of Islam as a political entity. The study revolves around three moments in which she appears as a direct or indirect protagonist, and in this last case overcoming social barriers. An ʿĀʾi-sha closer to a "lady of war" than a Muslim matron.

IN two publications written in the last ten years, the authors have investigated Babylonian texts containing pseudo-empirical, yet conspicuously concocted, numerical information: in one, Francesca Rochberg interpreted the" stellar distances" of the Middle Babylonian ...

A Critical Research Involving the form and Content of Hittite Treaties and its similarities as Archaeological Evidence for the Structures Found in Biblical Covenants throughout the Old Testament.  The Influence of Pagan Legality which influenced Hebrew Religious Culture as demonstrated in Old Testament Studies.

Opening address at the 33rd German Oriental Conference in Jena (2017) on the genesis of the anglophone, politically connoted notions "Near, Middle and Far East" as well as of "South Asian Studies" in comparison to "Oriental Studies" and German "Morgenland" forming part of the name of the "Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft" (German Oriental Society)

This thesis explores a specific form of representation from the Syrian Bronze Age: aniconic standing-stones, lacking inscriptions or decorations. These have been mainly studied from the point of view of texts which mention cult activity associated with them, but there has been heretofore no integrated analysis of archaeological finds, analysing architecture and associated material culture in comparison to texts. I will interpret litholatry (the cult of standing-stones) from the point of view of the influence of semi-nomadic pastoralists from the Syrian desert frontier on the culture of urban societies, and of the negotiation of urban/tribal identities of city kings through ritual.

Das Königreich Jerusalem, das 1099 nach der Eroberung der Heiligen Stadt
entstanden war, prägte für fast 200 Jahre die Geschichte des Nahen Ostens.
Seine politische Entwicklung wurde maßgeblich durch den Herrschaftsstil des
gerade amtierenden Königs bestimmt und war damit stets den Faktoren
Kontinuität und Wandel unterworfen. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht dieses
Phänomen anhand der Außenbeziehungen unter Amalrich und seinem Sohn
Balduin IV. (1163–1185). Ausgiebige Behandlung erfahren nicht nur die
Beziehungen zu den islamisch geprägten Herrschaftskomplexen des Nahen
Ostens und Kleinasiens, sondern ebenso jene zu Byzanz, zu den nördlichen
Kreuzfahrerherrschaften sowie zu weiteren christlich geprägten
Herrschaftskomplexen der Region. Auch die Beziehungen zu den verschiedenen
Ansprechpartnern in Europa werden mit in den Blick genommen. Durch die
ausführliche Analyse des weitgespannten Beziehungsnetzwerkes, das die
Jerusalemer Könige und ihre Berater in der Zeit zwischen dem Zweiten und
Dritten Kreuzzug unterhielten und aktiv weiterentwickelten, soll die bedeutende
Rolle des Königreiches im Spannungsfeld zwischen dem lateineuropäischen,
griechischen und islamisch geprägten Kulturraum deutlicher als bisher
herausgestellt werden.

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110639179/html?lang=de

It is not easy to write a review of Isa Blumi's new book, Destroying Yemen. It is particularly tricky for a social anthropologist like myself, that is, the representative of a discipline that Blumi uses to lash out against at habitually as harshly. Blumi's book begins with the sentence "This was a difficult book" (p. xi), and indeed he seems to have written it in a fit of rage. As a historian, Blumi has presented profound studies on the Ottoman history of Yemen, and Destroying Yemen too takes the current crisis in Yemen as the reference and starting point for his forays into Yemeni history in order to uncover the roots of the country's conflict.

Araştırmamızda esas kaynaklara inmeye özen gösterdik. Çalışmamızı ilgilendiren dönemin Yakınçağ olması dolayısıyla; arşivler, dönemin süreli yayınları, o yıllarda yaşayıp olaylara iştirak etmiş şahısların hatıraları ve eserlerini esas kaynak olarak seçtik. Ancak bu çalışmayı yaptığımız tarihte, ilgili fonların tasnif edilmemiş olması yüzünden Osmanlı Arşivleri'nden yeterince istifade edememiştik. Son yıllarda açılan tasniflerde ise konunun teferruatı ile alakalı pek çok vesika görme imkanı bulmakla birlikte, söz konusu vesikalar, vardığımız sonuçları ve yargılarımızı değiştirmediğinden, çalışmamıza ilave etmedik. Ancak, o bilgileri ilerde yapacağmıız çalışmalarda değerlendirmek borcumuzdur.

This new series provides a forum for exchange on a myriad of alternative histories of marginalized communities and individuals in the Near and Middle East and Mediterranean, and those of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean heritage. It will highlight thematic issues relating to various native peoples and their narratives and – with particular contemporary relevance – explore encounters with the notion of ‘other’ within various societies. Often moving beyond the conventional state-centred and dominant monolithic approach, or reinterpreting previously accepted stories, books in the series examine and explain themes from inter-communal relations, environment, health and society, and will explore ethnic, communal, racial, linguistic and religious developments that go beyond geopolitical compositions.

Building on the foundations of scholarship within an interdisciplinary framework, this series spans the continuum of Near Eastern and Mediterranean traditions extending from the fourth millennium B.C. to the present – bridging previous fields which originally had little connection with each other. The aim is to enhance perspectives by applying various methodological approaches to dilemmas that have in the past been treated as the exclusive concern of a single given discipline.

Key Features

Creates a forum for marginalized and/or indigenous communities to engage with the ‘accepted past and present’ and to challenge previously accepted truths
Opens a dialogue for alternative intellectual histories/narratives
The first series to focus on indigenous and minoritized related narratives from the understudied and often marginal perspective
Covers cultural, linguistic, ethnic, gendered, political, numerical and economic communities in the Near and Middle East, the Mediterranean and its extended environs
Engages with all periods of history from the ancient world to the present day, especially in terms of continuity of culture, cultural heritage and heritage preservation
Communities studied may include Alawites, Alevis, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Copts, Druze, Jews, Mandaens, Maronites, Palestinians, Pontian/ Anatolian Greeks, Samaritans, Shabbaks, Yezidis and Zoroastrians among others

Contrary to the breadth of existing scholarship that either ignores or deny the existence of political organization in any form, or feelings of peoplehood among the early Arab immigrants, this book presents immigrant formal political organizations spanning the early years from 1915 to 1950. Based on new archival evidence from private the public sources in the U. S. and the Near East, the Making of Arab Americans build to the first time a transnational narrative of Arab American identity development by meticulously chronicling the operations of four major political organizations: The Free Syria Society, 1915; The New Syria Party, 1927; The Arab National League, 1936; ad the Institute of Arab American Affairs, 1945. These were the immigrants responses to calamitous events in their homeland in the Levant. These responses evolved and grew more sophisticated with each attempt until their pan-Arab posture in the 1930's in response to the Palestinian revolt in 1936, combined with ascribing to American citizenship on the eve of WW II. The emergent Arab Americans did not abandon their dual loyalty to Arab causes while assuming an ambassadorial role of representing the U. S. in the Arab World within a cultural pluralist framework.

Ao contrário das outras revoluções árabes que saíram da crise em relativamente pouco tempo, a revolta síria continua há mais de dois anos e parece não conseguir encontrar rapidamente um desfecho. A posição geoestratégica da República Árabe Síria, governada pela família Assad desde 1970, e a religiosidade explicam a transformação da crise síria numa guerra civil.

Author(s): Zildzic, Ahmed | Advisor(s): Algar, Hamid | Abstract: AbstractFriend and foe: The Early Ottoman Reception of Ibn `Arabiby Ahmed ZildzicDoctor of Philosophy in Near Eastern StudiesUniversity of California, BerkeleyProfessor Hamid Algar, ChairThe legacy of the great Muslim Sufi master from the XII century, Muhy al-din Ibn al-`Arabi left broad, profound, lasting and polarizing impact on the development of Islamic mysticism in the centuries after his death. The underlying principles of Sufism such as the ideas of the transcendental unity of being, the Perfect Man, the sealhood of the Mu-hammadan sainthood in their final form and ultimate interpretation are usually, both fa-vorably and unfavorably, associated with the name of Ibn `Arabi. This dissertation is a historical inquiry into the pathways through which the influence of Ibn `Arabi, as well as that of his works, disciples and ideas was inherited and incorpo-rated into the intellectual milieu of the Ottoman learned class ...