2004, 2016

British Library’s Hebrew manuscripts project blog launched today

By Mary Fisk|April 20, 2016|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Archival collections, History, Middle East, Central Asia & Islamica, Religions|0 comments

  (image from http://www.bl.uk/hebrew-manuscripts/articles/shedding-new-light-on-marginalia-mysteries) – free from copyright restrictions The British Library’s Hebrew Manuscripts Project official blog has been launched today. The blog showcases over 1000 years of Jewish culture and social life from across the world – from the Middle East to China, and from North Africa to Europe – with a key collection of digitized manuscripts in Hebrew from the British Library’s own collections accompanied by expert commentary and

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1901, 2016

Artist and Empire exhibition at the Tate

By Mary Fisk|January 19, 2016|Archival collections, Art and Archaeology, History, Photography|0 comments

Follow the links to an illustrated article by Inigo Thomas on the London Review of Books website discussing the portraiture of the British imperial age showcased in the Tate Britain’s current exhibition “Artist and Empire” which explores “how artists from Britain and around the world have responded to the dramas, tragedies and experiences of the Empire” from the 16th century to the present day Click here to read the London Review of

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0807, 2015

The Palestine Exploration Fund celebrates 150th anniversary

By Mary Fisk|July 8, 2015|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Art and Archaeology, History|0 comments

The Dome of the Rock, viewed from the roof of the Austrian Hospice (via Wikimedia Commons at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jerusalem_Dome_of_the_rock_BW_11.JPG) The Palestine Exploration Fund was founded on May 12th 1865 in the Jerusalem Chamber of Westminster Abbey. One of its founding members was the Dean, Arthur Penhryn Stanley and its roots lay in his involvement with the Jerusalem Water Relief Fund which had necessitated comprehensive professional surveying work in the city in 1864.

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2407, 2014

Commodity Prices in Ancient Babylon 385 – 61 BC

By Victoria Bird|July 24, 2014|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Economics, Financial and Management Studies, History, Unknown|0 comments

Yesterday morning I was shown an interesting piece on the International Institute of Social History website about commodity pricing in late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon, by R.J. van der Spek from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. The prices were recorded alongside other data by astronomers in the employ of the king. There are six key commodities in the listing: these are barley, dates, mustard, cress, sesame and wool. The earliest commodity price in

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0303, 2014

Religions – December 2013 and January 2014

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|March 3, 2014|Religions|0 comments

General & Comparative Bible and cinema: an introduction / Adele Reinhartz. Thin description: ethnography and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem / John L. Jackson, Jr. First light: a history of creation myths from Gilgamesh to the God particle / G.R. Evans.  Anatheism: returning to God after God / Richard Kearney. The dynamics of coexistence in the Middle East: negotiating boundaries between Christians, Muslims, Jews and Samaritans in Palestine /

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0711, 2013

Hebrew manuscripts digitization project at the British Library

By Mary Fisk|November 7, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Archival collections, History, Religions|0 comments

1250 of the 3000 plus Hebrew manuscripts in the British Library’s collection are to be digitized over the next three years in a project mainly funded by the Polonsky Foundation. The selected manuscripts will showcase the “creativity and intense social activities” of the Eastern and Western Jewish communities over 1000 years and will be available on open-access in their entirety For more information on the scope and content of the

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2006, 2013

New blog on the history and culture of Iraq

By Mary Fisk|June 20, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Art and Archaeology, History, Middle East, Central Asia & Islamica|0 comments

  Boat on the Euphrates By Christiaan Briggs (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq (TAARI) has just launched a blog aimed at “institutions, scholars and other individuals” interested in the history and culture of Iraq from ancient times until the present. The blog includes a thread where current  TAARI research fellows share reports from the field and

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0404, 2013

The Zen Gateway: new web resource

By Mary Fisk|April 4, 2013|China and Inner Asia, Japan, Religions|0 comments

Image of Mampukuji Temple (Kyoto, Japan) from Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mampukuji.jpg The Zen Gateway is a new magazine-style online community for those interested in the study, research into and practice of Zen (Chan) Buddhism, including related disciplines such as calligraphy, well-being and martial arts. Create an account to become a contributing member and add your own content. The Scholars and Academics section contains articles, comment and book reviews and the community website also hosts

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0308, 2012

Make your own Mesopotamian bread!

By Mary Fisk|August 3, 2012|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica|0 comments

The Silk Road Gourmet is a blog from food writer Laura Kelley looking at “the cuisines, histories and cultures of the more than thirty countries that traded goods along … the Silk Road” This post looks at bread-making in ancient Mesopotamia and suggests recipes to create your own sourdough spelt loaves (perhaps flavoured with onion seeds, sumac or saffron ) Click here to go to The Silk Road Gourmet