Ancient Near East, Semitics & Judaica: new book acquisitions in October / November 2016

By Mary Fisk|December 1, 2016|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Art and Archaeology, History, Linguistics, Literature, Middle East, Central Asia & Islamica|0 comments

This is a selection of new titles (print and electronic) acquired by SOAS Library for the Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica collections. This section of the Library also includes material on modern Israeli / Palestinian studies. Please note that only SOAS staff and students will have access to e-books Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations Lettres en akkadien de la “Maison d’urtēnu” : fouilles de 1994 / Sylvie Lackenbacher et Florence

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Ancient Near East, Semitics & Judaica at SOAS: a selection of new titles received April & May 2016

By Mary Fisk|May 25, 2016|Africa, Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Anthropology and Sociology, Art and Archaeology, Films and Sound Recordings, History, Middle East, Central Asia & Islamica, Philosophy, Politics and International Relations, Religions|0 comments

This is a selective list of new books received on topics relating to the Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica during April and May 2016. Please note that some of these titles may be shelved in the Art and Archaeology section (Level D) and that this section also includes books on modern Israeli / Palestinian studies (Level B) Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations Iconography of “Neo-Hittite” seals / by Agata Kubala

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Digitized Hebrew manuscripts from the Library of Congress

By Mary Fisk|December 9, 2015|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Archival collections, History, Middle East, Central Asia & Islamica, Religions|0 comments

The Hebraic manuscripts section of the Library of Congress houses over 220  manuscripts, mostly in Hebrew, but including other related languages such as Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Persian. These date from the 11th to the 20th centuries and come from Jewish communities across the world. They cover an eclectic range of subjects. Fifty texts have currently been added to the website. Content is indexed by language, name, subject, place and by

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Benjamin Harshav, scholar of Hebrew and Yiddish (1928-2015): an appreciation

By Mary Fisk|June 18, 2015|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Linguistics, Literature|0 comments

Professor Benjamin Harshav, the distinguished scholar of Hebrew and Yiddish literature, died on April 23rd 2015, aged 86. He was born in Vilna in Lithuania in 1928 (a town which he described as the “self-styled bastion of Yiddish culture“) but escaped across the Urals in 1941, along with his family, after the Germans ousted the Soviets from the city After the war, he moved to Israel, where he established the Department

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Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica – March 2015

By Emma Wilson-Shaw|April 10, 2015|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica|0 comments

Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations A city from the dawn of history: Erbil in the cuneiform sources / by John MacGinnis. Présence et pouvoir hittites à Ougarit : le cas des DUMU.LUGAL / Charlotte Lebrun. Documents of Judean exiles and West Semites in Babylonia in the collection of David Sofer / by Laurie E. Pearce and Cornelia Wunsch. Life, death, and coming of age in Antiquity: individual rites of passage in

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Two new resources for Jewish studies

By Mary Fisk|November 21, 2014|Ancient Near East, Semitics and Judaica, Archival collections, History, Religions|0 comments

Ancient Jew Review (follow on Twitter at @ancientjew) is a web platform for the study of ancient Judaism containing “original pieces, surveys of the field, book reviews” and video content. It is edited by PhD students at Columbia and Yale Recent content includes Ayyssa Gray’s retrospective on her first book A Talmud in exile and a podcast interview with Dr Richard Kalmin of the Jewish Theological Seminary on his recently published

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