The Journal of the American Oriental Society articles from April 2003

The Journal of the American Oriental Society archives from April 2003

The biblical shibboleth story in the light of late Egyptian perceptions of Semitic sibilants: reconciling divergent views.
April 1, 2003... 1. INTRODUCTION There are currently three treatments of the phonetics of the shibboleth incident of Judges 12:6 (1) deserving of serious consideration. Hendel (1996) and Faber (1992) present attractive arguments that do not depend on...

Embracing Inana: legitimation and mediation in the ancient Mesopotamian sacred marriage hymn Iddin-Dagan A.
April 1, 2003... The sacred marriage ceremony from ancient Mesopotamia is one of the most dramatic ways of conceptualizing the relationship between king and gods known from the ancient world. According to a number of literary texts, kings from the late third...

The "biography of Sima Xiangru" and the question of the Fu in Sima Qian's Shiji.
April 1, 2003... The problem of the authenticity of certain chapters of Sima Qian's (ca. 145--ca. 86 B.C.) Shiji [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (Records of the historian) has long been noted, beginning with the remark in Sima Qian's Hanshu [TEXT NOT...

Poetics and pragmatics in the Vedic liturgy for the installation of the sacrificial post.
April 1, 2003... INTRODUCTION Research over the course of the past two centuries has established that between the composition of the great majority of material in the Rgveda and the composition of the earliest of the later Vedic texts, there was a...

The eagle returns: evidence of continued Isma'ili activity at Alamut and in the south Caspian region following the Mongol conquests.
April 1, 2003... None of that people should be spared, not even the babe in its cradle. --Edict of Chingiz Khan and Mangu Qa'an (1) It is generally believed that the fall of the castle of Alamut in A.H. 654 (A.D....

Long hair or short hair in Ezekiel 44:20?
April 1, 2003... INTRODUCTION This note attempts to rescue from oblivion a suggestion offered, then summarily dismissed, by G. R. Driver in his 1926 article "Linguistic and Textual Difficulties." In that article, Driver suggested that apparent conflicts...

The Chiehyunn system and the current state of Chinese historical phonology.
April 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION Since the nineteenth century the field of historical phonology has encompassed two separate enterprises. The first and older of these is the phonological interpretation of written sources. The second is phonological...

Landscape and Land Use in Postglacial Greece.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Landscape and Land Use in Postglacial Greece. Edited by PAUL HALSTEAD and CHARLES FREDERICK. Sheffield Studies in Aegean Archaeology, vol. 3. Sheffield: SHEFFIELD ACADEMIC PRESS, 2000. Pp. 175, illus. $21.50 (paper). As the outgrowth of a...

Windows into Old Testament History: Evidence Argument and the Crisis of "Biblical Israel.".(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Windows into Old Testament History: Evidence Argument and the Crisis of "Biblical Israel." Edited by V. PHILIP LONG, DAVID W. BAKER, and GORDON J. WENHAM. Grand Rapids, Mich.: WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING Co., 2002. Pp. viii + 204. $22 (paper)....

The Deuteronomic School: History, Social Setting, and Literature.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... The Deuteronomic School: History, Social Setting, and Literature. By RAYMOND F. PERSON, JR. SBL Studies in Biblical Literature, vol. 2. Atlanta: SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, 2002. Pp. x + 175. $29.95 (paper). This little book tries...

Persia and Torah: The Theory of Imperial Authorization of the Pentateuch.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Persia and Torah: The Theory of Imperial Authorization of the Pentateuch. Edited by JAMES W. WATTS. SBL Symposium Series, vol. 17. Atlanta: SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, 2001. Pp. xi + 228. $39.95 (paper). Twenty years ago the Swiss...

A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian. Edited by JEREMY BLACK, ANDREW GEORGE, and NICHOLAS POSTGATE. SANTAG, vol. 5. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 1999. Pp. xxiv + 450. DM 58 (paper). The Concise Dictionary of Akkadian (CDA) has been praised,...

The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife. By ERIK HORNUNG. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca: CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1999. Pp. xxiv + 188. $16.95 (paper). The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife is an English edition of Erik...

Die babylonisch-assyrische Morphoskopie.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Die babylonisch-assyrische Morphoskopie. By BARBARA BOCK. Vienna: INSTITUT FUR ORIENTALISTIK DER UNIVERSITAT WIEN, 2000. Pp. 348, plates. OS 1280 (paper). The book under review is a study of what are usually referred to as physiognomic...

Babylonisch-assyrische Diagnostik.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Babylonisch-assyrische Diagnostik. By NILS P. HEESSEL. Alter Orient und Altes Testament, vol. 43. Munster: UGARIT-VERLAG, 2000. Pp. xii + 471, plates. Ancient Mesopotamian medicine has long played third fiddle to Classical and Egyptian...

The "Ur-Nammu" Stela.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... The "Ur-Nammu" Stela. By JEANNY VORYS CANBY. University Museum Monographs, vol. 110. Philadelphia: UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY, 2001. Pp. xiv + 58, plates. $49.95. The "Ur-Nammu" stela, found in...

The Art of Calligraphy in Modern China.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... The Art of Calligraphy in Modern China. By GORDON S. BARRASS. Berkeley and Los Angeles: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, 2002. Pp. 288, illus., plates. $75. During the Cultural Revolution a contingent of Red Guards showed up at the Shanghai...

Daoism and Chinese Culture.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Daoism and Chinese Culture. By LIVIA KOHN. Cambridge, Mass.: THREE PINES PRESS, 2001. Pp. 228. $14.95 (paper). This book is intended as a textbook for students. Textbooks on Daoism are few, so--for those persuaded of their pedagogical value...

Methods of the Way: Early Chinese Ethical Thought.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Methods of the Way: Early Chinese Ethical Thought. By RUNE SVARVERUD. Sinica Leidensia, vol. 42. Leiden: BRILL, 1998. Pp. xvi + 430 + plates. $168. Rune Svarverud's Methods of the Way: Early Chinese Ethical Thought is a thorough study of...

Great Walls of Discourse, and Other Adventures in Cultural China.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Great Walls of Discourse, and Other Adventures in Cultural China. By HAUN SAUSSY. Harvard East Asian Monographs, no. 212. Cambridge, Mass.: HARVARD UNIVERSITY ASIA CENTER, 2002. Pp. 289, illus. $45 (cloth); $19.95 (paper). I recall having...

Zhou Mi's Record of Clouds and Mist Passing Before One's Eyes: An Annotated Translation.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Zhou Mi's Record of Clouds and Mist Passing Before One's Eyes: An Annotated Translation. By ANKENEY WEITZ. Sinica Leidensia, 54. Leiden: BRILL, 2002. Pp. xiv + 398, illus. $115. Of much importance is this thirteenth-century Chinese text...

The Problem of Universals in Indian Philosophy.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... The Problem of Universals in Indian Philosophy. By RAJA RAM DRAVID. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 1971; 2nd revised ed., 2001. Pp. 384. The problem of universals, that is, the question of the basis of the general notions of our thought and...

Ajanta: Handbuch der Malereien, vol. 1: Interpretation; vol. 2: Supplement; vol. 3: Plates.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Ajanta: Handbuch der Malereien, vol. 1: Interpretation; vol. 2: Supplement; vol. 3: Plates. By DIETER SCHLINGLOFF. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2000. Pp. 908. DM 198. This encyclopedic work is the culmination of Professor Schlingloff's...

Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: Kali and Uma in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: Kali and Uma in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal. By RACHEL FELL MCDERMOTT. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2001. Pp. ix + 437. $65. Singing to the Goddess: Poems to Kali and Uma from Bengal. By...

Pudgalavada Buddhism: The Reality of the Indeterminate Self.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Pudgalavada Buddhism: The Reality of the Indeterminate Self. By LEONARD C. D. C. PRIESTLEY. South Asian Studies Papers, no. 12; monograph no. 1. Toronto: CENTRE FOR SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES, 1999. Pp. 255. $40 (cloth); $25 (paper). In this book...

Lord of the Dance: The Mani Rimdu Festival in Tibet and Nepal.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Lord of the Dance: The Mani Rimdu Festival in Tibet and Nepal. By RICHARD J. KOHN. SUNY Series in Buddhist Studies, Matthew Kapstein, ed. Albany: STATE UNIV. OF NEW YORK PRESS, 2001. Pp. xxxiv + 366. $86.50 (cloth); $29.95 (paper). Reading...

Visnubhattaviracita Anargharaghavapancika: The Commentary of Visnubhatta on the Anargharaghava of Murari. Critical edition, vol. I: The Commentary of Visnubhatta; vol. II: The Anargharaghava of Murari as Read by Visnubhatta, Notes, Appendices.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Visnubhattaviracita Anargharaghavapancika: The Commentary of Visnubhatta on the Anargharaghava of Murari. Critical edition, vol. I: The Commentary of Visnubhatta; vol. II: The Anargharaghava of Murari as Read by Visnubhatta, Notes, Appendices....

Arabic Verbs in Time: Tense and Aspect in Cairene Arabic.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Arabic Verbs in Time: Tense and Aspect in Cairene Arabic. By JOHN C. EISELE. Semitica Viva, vol. 20. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 1999. Pp. xi + 264. DM 78. Students of Arabic, used to textbooks of the standard written language which...

The Middle East Remembered: Forged Identities, Competing Narratives, Contested Spaces.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... The Middle East Remembered: Forged Identities, Competing Narratives, Contested Spaces. By JACOB LASSNER. Ann Arbor: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS, 2000. Pp. xvii + 428. $54.50. The Middle East Remembered brings together many strands of Jacob...

Die Rechtsbucher des Qairawaners Sahnun b. Sa'id: Entstehungsgeschichte und Werkuberlieferung.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Die Rechtsbucher des Qairawaners Sahnun b. Sa'id: Entstehungsgeschichte und Werkuberlieferung. By MIKLOS MURANYI. ABHANDLUNGEN FUR DIE KUNDE DES MORGENLANDES, VOL. 52.3. STUTTGART: DEUTSCHE MORGENLANDISCHE GESELLSCHAFT, KOMMISSIONSVERLAG FRANZ...

Infants, Parents and Wet Nurses: Medieval Islamic Views on Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Infants, Parents and Wet Nurses: Medieval Islamic Views on Breastfeeding and Their Social Implications. By AVNER GILADI. Islamic History and Civilization: Studies and Texts. Leiden: BRILL, 1999. Pp. x + 191. $76.50. Breastfeeding, a...

Abu Ma'sar on Historical Astrology: The Book of Religions and Dynasties (On the Great Conjunctions).(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Abu Ma'sar on Historical Astrology: The Book of Religions and Dynasties (On the Great Conjunctions). Edited and translated by KEJJI YAMAMOTO and CHARLES BURNETT. 2 vols.: vol. 1, The Arabic Original; vol. 2, The Latin Versions, Leiden: BRILL,...

Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy. By MUHSIN S. MAHDI. Chicago: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, 2001. Pp. xvii + 264. $37.50. Muhsin Mahdi's Alfarabi and the Foundation of Islamic Political Philosophy, many years in...

Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia. By THOMAS T. ALLSEN. Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization. Cambridge: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2001. Pp. xiii + 235. $60. The Pax Mongolica and the extensive cross-cultural exchanges it...

Ibn Hafif as-Sirazi und seine Schrift zur Novizenerziehung (Kitab al-iqtisad): Biographische Studien, Edition und Ubersetzung.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Ibn Hafif as-Sirazi und seine Schrift zur Novizenerziehung (Kitab al-iqtisad): Biographische Studien, Edition und Ubersetzung. By FLORIAN SOBIEROJ. Beiruter Texte und Studien, vol. 57. Beirut: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 1998. Pp. ix + 500. Ibn...

A Sociolinguistic Study of Persian in Tehran.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... A Sociolinguistic Study of Persian in Tehran. By NADER JAHANGIRI. Studia Culturae islamicae, no. 69; Iranian Studies, no. 15. Tokyo: INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF LANGUAGES AND CULTURES OF ASIA AND AFRICA, 2000. Pp. ix + 267. The author,...

The Medieval Hebrew Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy: Proceedings of the Bar-Ilan University Conference.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... The Medieval Hebrew Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy: Proceedings of the Bar-Ilan University Conference. Edited by STEVEN HARVEY. Amsterdam Studies in Jewish Thought, no. 7. Dordrecht: KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS, 2000. Pp. 547. It...

Schminken, Dufte und Raucherwerk der Jemenitinnen: Lexikon der Substanzen, Utensilien und Techniken.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Schminken, Dufte und Raucherwerk der Jemenitinnen: Lexikon der Substanzen, Utensilien und Techniken. By HANNE SCHONIG. Beiruter Texte und Studien, vol. 91. Beirut: ERGON VERLAG, 2002. Pp. xi + 415, illus. [euro]82. The subject of Schonig's...

Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Empire and Elites after the Muslim Conquest: The Transformation of Northern Mesopotamia. By CHASE F. ROBINSON. Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization. Cambridge: CAMBRIDGE UNIV. PRESS, 2000. Pp. xv + 206. $59.95. Can we write honest...

An Historical Atlas of Islam.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... An Historical Atlas of Islam. 2nd revised edition. Edited by HUGH KENNEDY. Leiden: BRILL, 2002. Pp. xx + 86. One would think that a book consisting primarily of pictures would be easy enough to review, but atlases in general are so crowded...

Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luga: Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948-1997).(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Compilation and Creation in Adab and Luga: Studies in Memory of Naphtali Kinberg (1948-1997). Edited by ALBERT ARAZI, JOSEPH SADAN, AND DAVID J. WASSERSTEIN, Israel Oriental Studies, no. 19. Winona Lake, Ind.: EISENBRAUNS, 1999. Pp. 499. ...

Begegnung mit Khidr: Quellenstudien zum Imaginaren im traditionellen Islam.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Begegnung mit Khidr: Quellenstudien zum Imaginaren im traditionellen Islam. By PATRICK FRANKE. Beiruter Texte und Studien, vol. 79. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 2000. Pp. xv + 620, plates. [euro]89. Al-Khadir or al-Khidr, the "green...

Byzantium and the Arabs in Sixth Century, vol. 2, part 1: Toponymy, Monuments, Historical Geography and Frontier Studies.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Byzantium and the Arabs in Sixth Century, vol. 2, part 1: Toponymy, Monuments, Historical Geography and Frontier Studies. By IRFAN SHAHID. Washington, D.C.: DUMBARTON OAKS RESEARCH LIBRARY AND COLLECTION, 2002. Pp. xxxvi + 468, maps, plates....

Kleine Schriften.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Kleine Schriften. By LUCIAN SCHERMAN. Glasenapp-Stiftung, vol. 40. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER, 2001. Pp. xxxii + 704. This collection of short articles by Lucian Scherman (1864-1946) is a very useful way to make them available to scholars....

Madhyamakahrdayam of Bhavya.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Madhyamakahrdayam of Bhavya. Edited by CHR. LINDTNER. Adyar Library Series, vol. 123. Adyar, Chennai: ADYAR LIBRARY AND RESEARCH CENTRE, 2001. Pp. li + 169. $5. Bhavya (also known as Bhavaviveka) was an important sixth-century author of...

Studi Giainici.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Studi Giainici. By LUIGO PIO TESSITORI. Introduction by Nalini Balbir. Bibliotheca Indica, Opera omnia di Luigi Pio Tessitori, vol. II. Udine: SOCIETA INDOLOGICA LUIGI PIO TESSITORI, 2000. This is the second in a planned series of seven...

The Patimokkha.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... The Patimokkha. Edited by WILLIAM PRUITT, translated by KENNETH ROY NORMAN. Sacred Books of the Buddhists, vol. 39. Oxford: The Pali Text Society, 2001. Pp. lviii + 307. [pounds sterling]12.50 (cloth); [pounds sterling]7.50 (paper). In a...

Collected Papers.(Brief Reviews)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Collected Papers, vol. 7. By KENNETH ROY NORMAN. Oxford: The Pali Text Society, 2001. Pp. xvii + 265. [pounds sterling]20.50. The first volume of this series came out in 1990. During the following decade subsequent parts were published at...

Kleine Schriften.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Kleine Schriften. By LUDWIG ALSDORF, edited by Albrecht Wezler. 2nd ed. Glasenapp-Stiftung, vol. 10. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 2001. Pp. xxx + 749. [euro]86. Kleine Schriften: Nachtragsband. By LUDWIG ALSDORF, edited by Albrecht...

Nilgiri Areal Studies.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Nilgiri Areal Studies. By K. V. ZVELEBIL, edited by Jaroslav Vachek and Jan Dvorak. Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica Monographia, vol. 133. Prague: CHARLES UNIVERSITY, THE KAROLINUM PRESS, 2001. Pp. 535. This collection of articles...

Das altere Mittelindisch im Uberblick.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Das altere Mittelindisch im Uberblick. By OSCAR VON HINUBER. 2nd rev. ed. Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaft, Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, vol. 467; Veroffentlichungen der Kommission fur Sprachen und Kulturen...

The Pillars of Islam: Da'a'im al-Islam of al-Qadi al-Nu'man.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... The Pillars of Islam: Da'a'im al-Islam of al-Qadi al-Nu'man, vol. 1. Translated by ASAF A. A. FYZEE, revised and annotated by ISMAIL KURBAN HUSEIN POONAWALA. New Delhi: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2002. Pp. xxxiii + 558. At the summit of his...

New Persian Language and Linguistics: A Selected Bibliography up to 2001.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... New Persian Language and Linguistics: A Selected Bibliography up to 2001. By SHAHRAM AHADI. Orientalistik Bibliographien und Dokumentationen, Band 17. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2002. Pp. xxxii + 256. A useful barometer that can be...

Social Issues in Popular Yemeni Culture (Qadaya ijtima'iyyatun fi l'adabi ssa'bi ilyamani).(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Social Issues in Popular Yemeni Culture (Qadaya ijtima'iyyatun fi l'adabi ssa'bi ilyamani). Translated, edited, and annotated by JANET C. E. WATSON. San'a: ASSABAHI PRESS. 2002. Pp. 217. The author, who has published extensively on Yemeni...

Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sa'di's Ta'rikh al-sudan down to 1613 and Other Contemporary Documents.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
April 1, 2003... Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sa'di's Ta'rikh al-sudan down to 1613 and Other Contemporary Documents. By JOHN HUNWICK. Leiden, BRILL, 1999. Pp. lxv + 412. $147. Readers familiar with the Houdas translation of this crucial work by Abd...

Books Received.
April 1, 2003... I. Ancient Near East Archaologische Berichte aus dem Yemen 9 (2002). [euro]76.80. BAHRANI, ZAINAB. The Graven Image: Representation in Babylonia and Assyria. Archaeology, Culture, and Society. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press,...