Thursday, December 28, 2017

Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt

https://archive.org/details/EncyclopediaOfTheArchaeologyOfAncientEgypt_201705

From AWOL:

Responsibility
edited by Kathryn A. Bard ; with the editing assistance of Steven Blake Shubert.
Imprint
New York : Routledge, 1999.
Physical description
xxx, 938 p. : ill., maps ; 25 cm.
Publisher's Summary
The Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt is the first reference work in English ever to present a systematic coverage of the archaeology of this region from the earliest finds of the Palaeolithic period through to the fourth century AD. Over 300 alphabetically arranged entries cover artefacts, biographies, buildings, geographical features, sites, society and techniques and are extensively illustrated with more than 120 images. The material has been compiled by an international team of the most emminent scholars in the field, many of them currently excavating in Egypt. Structure The Encyclopedia opens with a chronology of periods and dynasties which provides a constant point of reference for the material which follows. An introductory essay then focuses on the definition and scope of Egyptian archaeology, providing a general context for the study of archaeological activity in this region. Thirteen historical overviews map the history of archaeology in Egypt (and Nubia) from the Paleolithic to the Roman periods. The alphabetical entries which form the main body of the text range from highly specific histories of the excavations which have taken place at individual sites to broader subject-based essays on materials, artefacts and cultural practices. The aim, throughout, has been to incorporate both the latest theoretical debates in archaeology and the most recent data from the field. Each entry is followed by a focused bibliography to direct the student to primary records and secondary literature, with foreign language sources included to supplement the available works in English. Cross-referencing and an extensive index are also provided, while the numerous illustrations include plans, maps, drawings of artefacts and black and white photographs. Readership This work is an essential English-language reference on the archaeology of ancient Egypt for readers at a variety of levels - from undergraduates, postgraduate students and Egyptologists to informed general readers. Art history scholars and museums will also find this Encyclopedia to be an invaluable resource. Key Features This is the first work in the English language which systematically covers the archaeology of ancient Egypt. The prestigious team of authors includes practising archaeologists as well as leading academics in the field. The wide variety of entries includes sites, figures, peoples, artefacts, techniques and ancient cultures. include: Elvira d'Amicone Museum of Ancient Egypt, Turin; Rosalie David Manchester Museum, UK; Gunter Dreyer Germany Archaeological Institute, Cairo; Renee Friedman.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)9780415185899 20160528)

Sunday, December 24, 2017

The Royal Inscriptions of Babylonia online (RIBo) Project

The Royal Inscriptions of Babylonia online (RIBo) Project

(From AWOL)
From the start of the Second Dynasty of Isin (1157-1026 BC) to the end of the Neo-Babylonian Dynasty (625-539 BC), over 80 men claimed suzerainty over the land of Sumer and Akkad, an area roughly comprising modern-day southern Iraq; the number greatly increases to about 130 if one also includes the kings of the later Persian and Greek (Macedonian and Seleucid) Periods. These Babylonian rulers, some of whom proudly referred to themselves as the 'king of Babylon' (a title divinely sanctioned by that city's tutelary deity, Marduk), had inscriptions officially commissioned in their names, sometimes to boast about an accomplishment of theirs (often the renovation of a temple or the construction of a palace or city wall) and sometimes to simply indicate that an object belonged to them.
Over 400 Akkadian and/or Sumerian royal inscriptions from these periods survive today. Those texts are preserved on more than 1,800 clay, metal, and stone objects, over half of which date to the reign of the famous Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC). The majority of these are assumed to have been unearthed in the ruins of one of the major cult centers of Babylonia: Babylon, Borsippa, Nippur, Sippar, Ur, and Uruk. Many of the bricks, clay cylinders, clay prisms, clay tablets, paving stones, foundation blocks, beads, etc. discovered through scientific archaeological excavations or illicit digs have made their way into numerous museum and private collections around the world; some objects, especially those that were too heavy to haul back to Europe or North America, were left and buried in the field by their excavators after their contents were recorded, copied, and/or photographed.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

The (Proto-)Masoretic Text by Emanuel Tov

by Prof. Emanuel Tov

— Part 1—
The Bible and the Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text (MT), whether in its consonantal form (Proto-MT) or its full form, is the commonly used version of the Hebrew Bible, considered authoritative by Jews for almost two millenia.[1] From the invention of the printing press, all Hebrew editions of the Hebrew Bible have been based on a text form of MT, with the exception of publications of the Samaritan Pentateuch or eclectic editions.[2]
The roots of MT and its popularity go back to the first century of the Common Era. Before that period, only the proto-rabbinic (Pharisaic) movement made use of MT, while other streams in Judaism used other Hebrew textual traditions.
In other words, before the first century of the Common Era, we witness a textual plurality among Jews, with multiple text forms conceived of as “the Bible,” or Scripture, including the Hebrew source upon which the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint (LXX), was built...
  Table of Contents
  Part 1   –   The Bible and the Masoretic Text

  Part 2   –   Judean Desert Texts Outside Qumran
  Part 3   –   Socio-Religious Background and Stabilization
  Part 4   –   The Scribes of Proto-MT and their Practices  Part 5   –   Precise Transmission of Inconsistent Spelling
  Part 6   –   Scribal Marks
  Part 7   –   Key Characteristics of the (Proto-)MT
  Part 8   –   Other Biblical Text Traditions
  Part 9   –   Evaluating (Proto-)MT
  Part 10 –   Editions and Translations of (Proto-)MT