The Journal of the American Oriental Society articles from January 2006

The Journal of the American Oriental Society archives from January 2006

The death of an ideal leader: predictions and premonitions.(Caliph Abu Bakr)
January 1, 2006... The three caliphs who ruled after Abu Bakr--'Umar, 'Uthman and 'Ali, all four known collectively as al-Rashidun, the rightly guided--were assassinated. 'Umar's murder in Medina, after a ten-year caliphate (13-23/635-644), was the first of the...

Arabic in Semitic linguistic history.(Report)
January 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION: THE PRESENT STATE The nineteenth-century classification of Arabic and Ethiopic as a separate, South Semitic, category of the Semitic languages has had serious deleterious effects upon progress in Semitic historical...

Tintinnabulations of bells: scoring-prosody in third-century China and its relationship to yueh-fu party music.(music in poetry)(Critical essay)
January 1, 2006... In 1849, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Bells" imagined their manipulation of emotions, even of sanity. Silver ones tinkle on joyous sleigh rides; gold wedding bells rhyme and chime in euphony: All the heavens, seem to twinkle With a...

Colophons and cultural biography: episodes from the life of The Ear Picker.(Critical essay)
January 1, 2006... A white-robed gentleman sits casually in front of a landscape screen idly picking his ear [figure 1]. The activity is intimate and curious. What is the meaning of this gesture, and why should it become a subject of a painting? (1) Over the...

Revisiting bala.(Provincial Taxation and the Ur III State)(Critical essay)
January 1, 2006... The Ur III period (ca. 2100-2000 B.C., according to the conventional middle chronology) is well known for its massive bureaucracy, which has left us with tens of thousands of cuneiform documents. The brief period when the kings in Ur seem to...

The house of the god who dwells in Jerusalem.(Temple Restoration in Early Achaemenid Judah)(Priester und Leviten im Achamenidischen Juda)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... The appearance of a review years after the publication of the books in question may be odd, but can be justified by the nature of the books and the issues they raise. P. Bedford's Temple Restoration in Achaemenid Judah and J. Schaper's Priester...

The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... The Secret History of the Mongols: A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century. Two volumes. By IGOR DE RACHEWILTZ. Brill's Inner Asian Library, vols. 7.1 and 7.2. Leiden: BRILL, 2004. Pp. cxxvii + 1347. $214. For those interested...

Himalayan Hermitess: The Life of a Tibetan Buddhist Nun.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Himalayan Hermitess: The Life of a Tibetan Buddhist Nun. By KURTIS SCHAEFFER. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2004. Pp. viii + 220. $42. In Himalayan Hermitess: The Life of a Tibetan Buddhist Nun, Kurtis Schaeffer translates,...

Indian Linguistic Studies: Festschrift in Honor of George Cardona.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Indian Linguistic Studies: Festschrift in Honor of George Cardona. Edited by MADHAV M. DESHPANDE and PETER E. HOOK. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 2002. Pp. xxv + 384. Rs. 695. Apparently planned as a Sastipurti festschrift--an auspicious act...

Foundations of Dharmakirti's Philosophy.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Foundations of Dharmakirti's Philosophy. By JOHN D. DUNNE. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: WISDOM PUBLICATIONS, 2004. Pp. xix + 467. $39.95. Dharmakirti is one of the world's great philosophers. His accomplishments rank...

Das Kitab al-Amwal des Abu 'Ubaid al-Qasim b. Sallam: Entstehung und Uberlieferung eines fruh-islamischen Rechtswerkes.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Das Kitab al-Amwal des Abu 'Ubaid al-Qasim b. Sallam: Entstehung und Uberlieferung eines fruh-islamischen Rechtswerkes. By ANDREAS GORKE. Studies in Late Antiquity and Early Islam 22. Princeton: DARWIN PRESS, 2003. Pp. ix + 204. Abu 'Ubayd...

Anthology of Arabic Literature, Culture, and Thought from Pre-Islamic Times to the Present.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Anthology of Arabic Literature, Culture, and Thought from Pre-Islamic Times to the Present. By BASSAM K. FRANGIEH. Yale Language Series. New Haven: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2005. Pp. xviii + 566. This book has long been a desideratum since...

The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 1-15 [ending 15:29] and Chapters 15-31 [beginning 15:30].(The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. 2 volumes)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 1-15 [ending 15:29] and Chapters 15-31 [beginning 15:30]. By BRUCE K. WALTKE. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. 2 volumes. Grand Rapids, Mich.: EERDMANS, 2004, 2005. Pp. xxxv + 693; xxxxi +...

The Future of Biblical Archaeology: Reassessing Methodologies and Assumptions.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... The Future of Biblical Archaeology: Reassessing Methodologies and Assumptions. Edited by JAMES K. HOFFMEIER and ALAN MILLARD. Grand Rapids, Mich.: WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING Co., 2004. Pp. xviii + 385, illus. $26.00 (paper). A 2001...

Across the Anatolian Plateau: Readings in the Archaeology of Ancient Turkey.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Across the Anatolian Plateau: Readings in the Archaeology of Ancient Turkey. Edited by DAVID C. HOPKINS. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, vol. 57 (2000). Atlanta: AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH, 2002. Pp. ix + 209,...

Business and Politics under the Persian Empire: The Financial Dealings of Marduk-nasir-apli of the House of Egibi (521-487 B.C.E.).(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Business and Politics under the Persian Empire: The Financial Dealings of Marduk-nasir-apli of the House of Egibi (521-487 B.C.E.). By KATHLEEN ABRAHAM. Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 2004. Pp. xxvi + 560. $60. In this book Kathleen Abraham...

Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Religions of the Ancient World: A Guide. Edited by SARAH ILES JOHNSTON. Cambridge, Mass.: HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2004. Pp. xix + 697, illus. $49.95. Every once in a long while, a reference work comes along that is certain from the...

Grammatical Variation in Neo-Assyrian.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Grammatical Variation in Neo-Assyrian. BY MIKKO LUUKKO. State Archives of Assyria Studies, vol. 16. Helsinki: THE NEO-ASSYRIAN TEXT CORPUS PROJECT, 2004. Pp. xiv + 276. $60 (paper). Assyrian, alongside Babylonian, is considered to be a...

Stages and Transitions: Temporal and Historical Frameworks in Epic and Puranic Literature.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Stages and Transitions: Temporal and Historical Frameworks in Epic and Puranic Literature. Edited by MARY BROCKINGTON. Zagreb: CROATIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND ARTS, 2002. Pp. xvii + 408. The first Dubrovnik International Conference on the...

The Ramayana Revisited.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... The Ramayana Revisited. Edited by MANDAKRANTA BOSE. Oxford: Oxford UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2004. Pp. xii + 378, illus. Mandakranta Bose may be best known for her work on Indian dance and, more recently, on women's studies. However, the Ramayana,...

Du corps humain, au carrefour de plusieurs savoirs en Inde / The Human Body, at the Crossroads of Multiple Indian Ways of Knowing. Stvdia Asiatica, vols. IV-V.(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Du corps humain, au carrefour de plusieurs savoirs en Inde / The Human Body, at the Crossroads of Multiple Indian Ways of Knowing. Stvdia Asiatica, vols. IV-V. Edited by EUGEN CIURTIN. Bucharest: UNIVERSITE DE BUCAREST / Paris: DE BOCCARD,...