A representative sample of 80 inscriptions and documents in various local Aramaic dialects, dating from the first centuries BC, when the Near East was under Roman rule. Detailed commentaries on the texts, chapters on history and culture and on epigraphy and language, and English translations are also provided.
In the first centuries AD, although much of the Near East was ruled by Rome, the main local language was Aramaic, and the people who lived inside or on the fringes of the area controlled by the Romans frequently wrote their inscriptions and legal documents in their own local dialects of this language. This book introduces these fascinating early texts to a wider audience, by presenting a representative sample, comprising eighty inscriptions and documents in the following dialects: Nabataean, Jewish, Palmyrene, Syriac, and Hatran. Detailed commentaries on the texts are preceded by chapters on history and culture and on epigraphy and language. The linguistic commentaries will help readers who have a knowledge of Hebrew or Arabic or one of the Aramaic dialects to understand the difficulties involved in interpreting such materials. The translations and more general comments will be of great interest to classicists and ancient historians.
This collection of essays contains a wide range of topics reflecting the depth and breadth of interest of the scholar in whose honour they were commissioned - Kevin J. Cathcart. The central focus is Near Eastern, and covers a range of philological, linguistic, exegetical, historical and interpretative issues. The Near Eastern languages examined include Akkadian, Arabic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Hebrew, Septuagintal Greek, Syriac and Ugaritic, while exegetical and text-critical topics include treatments of issues in Deuteronomy, 1 Kings, Isaiah, Amos, Psalms and the Song of Songs. Hermeneutical and historical essays touch on Ancient Israel's history and its interpretation, as well as on the significance of such individuals as the consular official John Dickson, E.H. Palmer in the Cambridge Libraries, William Lithgow of Lanark, and the contribution to Semitic epigraphy of the explorer Julius Euting. This is volume 375 in the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement series.
The Arabic alphabet has a rich history, one that is closely linked with the development of culture and society in the Middle East. In this comprehensive introduction the authors trace the origins of the Arabic alphabet back to Aramaic, which also gave rise to the Hebrew and Greek alphabets. Using detailed illustrations the authors investigate early Arabic papyri and early Islamic inscriptions as well as classical Arabic scripts. John F. Healey and G. Rex Smith bring the story up to the present day by examining the practice of calligraphy, printing and computing in Arabic.
This volume contains all the known Old Syriac inscriptions from Edessa and the area around Osrhoene in Northern Mesopotamia from the first three centuries C.E., the number of which has substantially increased over the last decades. The texts are given in estrangelo script and are accompanied by an extensive philological and historical commentary. The originals are presented in photographs and line drawings. The volume also contains chapters on the script of these inscriptions, on the language and on the history and culture of Edessa. Two appendices offer the texts of three parchments written in Syriac and originating from the same area, and of known but still unpublished inscriptions. The book concludes with indices of words and proper names, which are complement to the Dictionary of the North-West Semitic Inscriptions (Brill, 1995), and with a full bibliography.
This book surveys systematically all the aspects of the religion of the Nabataeans of ancient Petra, including such important themes as the divinisation of kings and comparisons with Judaism and Islam. It is the first monograph ever devoted to this subject.
00 In this generously illustrated book, John Healey outlines the basic principles of the early alphabet and describes the first attempts at alphabetic writing in the Semitic languages. In this generously illustrated book, John Healey outlines the basic principles of the early alphabet and describes the first attempts at alphabetic writing in the Semitic languages.
In this Thomson Advantage Books edition of his acclaimed text, a well-known and well-respected author provides this comprehensive yet accessible introduction to population issues, concepts and theories. While keeping larger population issues in perspective, the text closely examines key factors in population processes, from fertility and mortality rates to agricultural production and urbanization. The text addresses both population problems and potential solutions, and engages students with intriguing essays, interesting examples, and up-to-date Internet resources. The text is the most comprehensive book on the market, encompassing the entire field of demography, including principle and practice: Chapters 1 - 8 provide the framework and tools while Chapters 9 - 13 apply these tools and demographic perspectives to real-world situations. The text is a classic in the field, and is respected for its comprehensive and contemporary approach and is now available at a low, student-friendly price.
The thousands of surviving inscriptions in Middle Aramaic (e.g., in the Nabataean, Syriac and Palmyrene dialects) are an underused resource in the study of the Near East in the Roman period, especially in the study of religion and law. Particularly important was the emergence during this period of new peoples with their cultural roots in Arabia, such as the Nabataeans. This volume collects together, under the interrelated themes of religion and law, twenty-three articles by John Healey, with sections on "Petra and Nabataean Aramaic", "Edessa and Early Syriac" and "Aramaic and Society in the Roman Near East". Individual papers discuss the continuation of "Ancient Near Eastern" culture, the Aramaic legal tradition as well as the development of both written and spoken forms of Syriac and Nabatean.
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