The brief notice of Absalom’s pillar in 2 Sam 18:18 provides an important yet un-usual case of how memory is constructed in ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible. Commemoration of the dead typically works from the perspective of the (living) descendent and is directed towards the (deceased) ancestor. Yet in this example Absalom commemorates h…[Read more]

The brief notice of Absalom’s pillar in 2 Sam 18:18 provides an important yet un-usual case of how memory is constructed in ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible. Commemoration of the dead typically works from the perspective of the (living) descendent and is directed towards the (deceased) ancestor. Yet in this example Absalom commemorates h…[Read more]

The brief notice of Absalom’s pillar in 2 Sam 18:18 provides an important yet un-usual case of how memory is constructed in ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible. Commemoration of the dead typically works from the perspective of the (living) descendent and is directed towards the (deceased) ancestor. Yet in this example Absalom commemorates h…[Read more]

This essay examines the current state of the field in pentateuchal studies and recommends taking up large-genre questions once again and looking at canonical texts from other religious traditions, in this case ancient Sanskrit texts, for clues on how this type of literature grows.

The meaning of the Akkadian term ṭuppi has been hotly debated by Assyriologists for the greater part of a century. The present article argues that ṭuppi, commonly found in temporal expressions, can only refer to a one-year period. This proposal arises out of the observation that, among a substantial corpus of Neo-Babylonian house rental con…[Read more]

The meaning of the Akkadian term ṭuppi has been hotly debated by Assyriologists for the greater part of a century. The present article argues that ṭuppi, commonly found in temporal expressions, can only refer to a one-year period. This proposal arises out of the observation that, among a substantial corpus of Neo-Babylonian house rental con…[Read more]

A survey of an re-reading of Job 42:6, in a Festshcrift honoring the late Semitic philologist, Giovanni Garbini.

This chapter explores the prose traditions in the Writings under the broad division between historiography and storytelling. While 1–2 Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah make use of archival sources and possibly genuine first-person accounts, these materials are arranged and subsumed under an ideological umbrella—much like contemporaneous Greek his…[Read more]

This chapter explores the prose traditions in the Writings under the broad division between historiography and storytelling. While 1–2 Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah make use of archival sources and possibly genuine first-person accounts, these materials are arranged and subsumed under an ideological umbrella—much like contemporaneous Greek his…[Read more]

This chapter explores the prose traditions in the Writings under the broad division between historiography and storytelling. While 1–2 Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah make use of archival sources and possibly genuine first-person accounts, these materials are arranged and subsumed under an ideological umbrella—much like contemporaneous Greek his…[Read more]

This article uses both textual and archaeological evidence to examine the role of unbuilt land in the Babylonian city. Detailed study of such land is vital not only for understanding urban living conditions but also for any attempt to estimate urban population based on density of occupation of residential areas. By classifying and investigating…[Read more]

This article uses both textual and archaeological evidence to examine the role of unbuilt land in the Babylonian city. Detailed study of such land is vital not only for understanding urban living conditions but also for any attempt to estimate urban population based on density of occupation of residential areas. By classifying and investigating…[Read more]