August 2015
Vol. 3, No. 8
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.
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!
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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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.
