Palmyra in 1926 (from the Guardian Archive, originally published 12th June 1926)

By Mary Fisk|June 16, 2015|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, History|0 comments

Palmyra panorama view shortly after sunrise (2005) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PalmyraPanoramaZoom.jpg In April 1926, the Manchester Guardian’s correspondent was in Beirut for a congress. After the exacting business of formal dinners and fetes,  the party set out to explore the historic sites of the region, including Byblos, Tripoli and Krak des Chevaliers – and finally to Palmyra. This account (whilst coloured with some of the stereotypes of the day) gives a vivid depiction

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History – March 2015

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|May 11, 2015|History|0 comments

General and thematic The true history of tea / Victor H. Mair & Erling Hoh Trophies, relics and curios? : Missionary heritage from Africa and the Pacific / edited by Karen Jacobs, Chantal Knowles, Chris Wingfield Guantánamo diary / Mohamedou Ould Slahi ; introduction by Larry Siems ; edited by Larry Siems Case studies in transmission / Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, Ilkka Lindstedt, Robert Rollinger und Raija Mattila (Hgg.) The British industrial

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History – February 2015

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|March 31, 2015|History|0 comments

General and thematic Echoes of empire: memory, identity and the legacy of imperialism / Kalypso S. Nicolaidis, Berny Sebe & Gabrielle Maas The rise of the West: a history of the human community: with a retrospective essay / by William H. McNeill; drawings by Béla Petheö. Europe and the Islamic world: a history / John Tolan, Gilles Veinstein, and Henry Laurens   translated by Jane Marie Todd with a foreword by

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Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica – October 2014

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|December 5, 2014|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica|0 comments

Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations The ark before Noah: decoding the story of the flood / Irving Finkel. Legend, history and the ancient city: Babylon / Michael Seymour. Die babylonischen Kudurru-Inschriften von der kassitischen bis zur frühneubabylonischen Zeit : untersucht unter besonderer Berücksichtigung gesellschafts- und rechtshistorischer Fragestellungen / Susanne Paulus.  Le droit de la vente a Emar / Lena Fijalkowska.  Orient und Okzident in hellenistischer Zeit : Beiträge zur Tagung “Orient

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History – July 2014

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|August 20, 2014|History|0 comments

General & comparative Visualizing knowledge and creating meaning in ancient writing systems / edited by Shai Gordin State, faith, and nation in Ottoman and post-Ottoman lands / Frederick F. Anscombe Africa Contesting Caprivi: a history of colonial isolation and regional nationalism in Namibia Africa (4th edn) / edited by Maria Grosz-Ngaté, John H. Hanson, and Patrick O’Meara Dead was everything / Keith Smith The death penalty in Africa: foundations and

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Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica – September 2013

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|October 8, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica|0 comments

Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations Tempel im Alten Orient : 7. Internationales Colloquium der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, 11.-13. Oktober 2009, München Im Auftrag der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft / herausgegeben von Kai Kaniuth, Anne Löhnert, Jared L. Miller, Adelheid Otto, Michael Roaf und Walther Sallaberger. Siedlungsgeschichte im mittleren Osttigrisgebiet : vom Neolithikum bis in die neuassyrische Zeit / Simone Mühl. The World of Berossos : Proceedings of the 4th International Colloquium on “The Ancient

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Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica – July 2013

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|July 31, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica|0 comments

Ancient Near Eastern civilizations Excavations at Tel Beth-Shean, 1989-1996 (Vol. 3 & Vol.4) Ebla and its landscape / edited by Paolo Malthiae & Nicolò Marchetti  Aspetti del sistema preposizionale dell’eblaita / Maria Vittoria Tonietti. The world of the Neo-Hittite kingdoms: a political and military history / Trevor Bryce. Linguistics studies in Phoenician: in memory of J. Brian Peckham / edited by Robert D. Holmstedt and Aaron Schade. The elements of

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Book Review: Ancient Babylonian medicine: theory and practice / Markham Geller.

By Mary Fisk|July 10, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, History|0 comments

Professor Dr. Markham Geller is a Visiting Professor at the Freie Universität in Berlin, and Director of UCL’s Institute of Jewish Studies. His recent monograph, Ancient Babylonian medicine : theory and practice (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) has been reviewed by John Steele (Professor of Egyptology and Ancient West Asian Studies at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island) in the online journal Aestimatio (Vol.10, 2013) (Institute for Research in Classical Philosophy and Science) Professor Steele concludes

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Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica – April 2013

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|April 25, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica|0 comments

Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations The Cyrus cylinder: the great Persian edict from Babylon / edited by I.L. Finkel The archive of Mušēzib-Marduk, son of Kiribtu and descendant of Sîn-nāṣir : a landowner and property developer at Uruk in the seventh century BC / Grant Frame. Commerce and colonization in the Mediterranean Bronze Age / Maria Eugenia Aubet. The Philistines and other “sea peoples” in text and archaeology / edited by

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Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica – March 2013

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|April 8, 2013|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica|0 comments

Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations Sacred killing: the archaeology of sacrifice in the ancient Near East / edited by Anne M. Porter and Glenn M. Schwartz Temple building and temple cult:  architecture and cultic paraphernalia of temples in the Levant (2.-1. Mill. B.C.E.) : Proceedings of a conference on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at the University of Tübingen (28th – 30th of May

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