The Journal of the American Oriental Society articles from July 2003

The Journal of the American Oriental Society archives from July 2003

The Manchus and their language (presidential address).
July 1, 2003... Six hundred years ago, eastern Manchuria was inhabited by numerous small Tungusic tribes. Three centuries earlier these peoples had organized a powerful state, eventually conquering North China where they ruled for the better part of a century...

Songs of Ecstasy: mystics, minstrels, and merchants in colonial Bengal.
July 1, 2003... The songs are composed in a very simple, beautiful form... which expresses deep philosophical truth, but which cannot be understood by anyone apart from initiates. Although the language is simple, it is highly...

Velars, uvulars, and the North Dravidian hypothesis.
July 1, 2003... I. BACKGROUND 1.1 Brahui is spoken by around two million people in Baluchistan province of Pakistan, adjacent areas of Afghanistan, eastern Iran, and Turkmenistan. (1) It remained unrecorded until the nineteenth century and still is not...

"Arabia Without Spices": an alternate hypothesis: the issue of "Makkan trade and the rise of Islam".
July 1, 2003... I. The Historiographic Challenge 1. The Methodological Confrontation More than fifteen years have passed since Patricia Crone stunned the world of orientalism by positing dramatically new hypotheses regarding the role of Makkah in...

Evidence of an early metathesis among Akkadian piristum-stem nouns.
July 1, 2003... I. INTRODUCTION Discussions of Semitic grammatical issues frequently fail to draw a distinction between two discrete aspects of the investigation of morphology, viz. synchronic parsing and diachronic etymology. (1) The core of the typical...

The origins of separation of the sexes in China.
July 1, 2003... In recent years the study of the paired concepts zhenjhie [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], regularly compounded as zhenjhie [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], has emerged as a prime research topic in all...

On a Hittite lexicographic project.
July 1, 2003... One must certainly admire the pace at which Jaan Puhvel is producing his Hittite Etymological Dictionary, although in fact volume five (2001) is appearing four years after volume four (1997). This is a much smaller volume than its predecessors,...

On the curriculum of the Neo-Babylonian school.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Petra D. Gesche's book, Schulunterricht in Babylonien im ersten Jahrtausend v. Chr., a slightly reworked version of her dissertation, is a stunning achievement. The author evaluates about 2,500 often badly written exercise texts (most of them...

Once again Old Chinese yan [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and an [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII].
July 1, 2003... In a recent number of this journal, harking back to one of the late George Kennedy's important contributions to Old Chinese grammar, Paul Goldin proposes, as if it were a brand new idea, that the hypothetical pronoun *an that Kennedy supposed...

Aramaic 'k', lyk' and Iraqi Arabic 'aku, maku: the Mesopotamian particles of existence.
July 1, 2003... A linguistic phenomenon which has been evident in the central and southern Mesopotamian area (the former Babylonia), including neighboring Khuzistan, since the early Christian centuries is the deictic indicator k' "here" that functions...

Das Verbalsystem des Altathiopischen: Eine Untersuchung seiner Verwendung und Funktion unter Berucksichtigung des Interferenzproblems.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Das Verbalsystem des Altathiopischen: Eine Untersuchung seiner Verwendung und Funktion unter Berucksichtigung des Interferenzproblems. By STEFAN WENINGER. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz. Veroffentlichungen der...

Flight and Freedom in the Ancient Near East.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Flight and Freedom in the Ancient Near East. By DANIEL C. SNELL. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East, vol. 8. Leiden: BRILL, 2001. Pp. xi + 200. $60. For years Daniel Snell has been at the vanguard of Assyriologists who have...

Gilgamesch-Epos und Erra-Lied: Zu einem Aspekt des Verbalsystems.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Gilgamesch-Epos und Erra-Lied: Zu einem Aspekt des Verbalsystems. By HANS HIRSCH. Archiv fur Orientforschung, Beiheft 29. Vienna: SELBSTVERLAG DES INSTITUTS FUR ORIENTFORSCHUNG DER UNIVERSITAT WIEN, 2002. Pp. iv + 257. [euro]62. Reflecting...

The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls. By JODI MAGNESS. Grand Rapids, Mich.: WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING CO., 2002. Pp. xlvi + 238, illus. $26. In this book, Jodi Magness lends her considerable energies and balanced judgment to...

"Of Wood and Stone": The Significance of Israelite Cultic Items in the Bible and Its Early Interpreters.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... "Of Wood and Stone": The Significance of Israelite Cultic Items in the Bible and Its Early Interpreters. By ELIZABETH C. LAROCCA-PITTS, Harvard Semitic Monographs, vol. 61. Winona Lake, Ind.: EISENBRAUNS, 2001. Pp. xiii + 385. $39.95. This...

Christliche Architektur in Agypten.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Christliche Architektur in Agypten. By PETER GROSSMANN. Handbook of Oriental Studies, vol. 1, no. 62. Leiden: BRILL, 2002. Pp. xxxi + 605, plates. $145. For several decades now it has been to the nearly single-handed efforts of Peter...

"Sonne der Gerechtigkeit": Studien zur Solarisierung der Jahweh-Religion im Lichte von Psalm 72.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... "Sonne der Gerechtigkeit": Studien zur Solarisierung der Jahweh-Religion im Lichte von Psalm 72. By MARTIN ARNETH. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtstgeschichte, vol. 1. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2000. Pp....

East of the Jordan: Territories and Sites of the Hebrew Scriptures.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... East of the Jordan: Territories and Sites of the Hebrew Scriptures. By BURTON MACDONALD. ASOR Books, vol. 6. Boston: AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH, 2000. Pp. vii + 287. $29.95. [Distributed by David Brown Book Company, Oakville, Conn.]...

Studies in the Archaeology of the Iron Age in Israel and Jordan.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Studies in the Archaeology of the Iron Age in Israel and Jordan. Edited by AMIHAI MAZAR. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series, vol. 331. Sheffield: SHEFFIELD ACADEMIC PRESS. Pp. 335, illustrations. $85. This book...

Le lamine di Pyrgi: Le bilingue etrusco-fenicia e il problema delle origini etrusche.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Le lamine di Pyrgi: Le bilingue etrusco-fenicia e il problema delle origini etrusche. By SERGIO BATTAGLINI. Rome: IL CALAMO, 2001. Pp. 86, [euro] 12.91 (paper). This brief book is ultimately an essay in linguistic taxonomy. Its chief...

Tosefta Bava Kamma: A Structural and Analytic Commentary with a Mishna-Tosefta Synopsis.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Tosefta Bava Kamma: A Structural and Analytic Commentary with a Mishna-Tosefta Synopsis. By ABRAHAM GOLDBERG, Jerusalem: THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY MAGNES PRESS, 2001. Pp. ix + 297. [Hebrew]. $17. Professor Abraham Goldberg has had a...

Kulturgeschichten: Altorientalistische Studien fur Volkert Haas zum 65. Geburtstag.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Kulturgeschichten: Altorientalistische Studien fur Volkert Haas zum 65, Geburtstag. Edited by THOMAS RICHTER, DORIS PRECHEL, and JORG KLINGER. Saarbrucken: SAARBRUCKER DRUCKEREI UND VERLAG, 2001. Pp. xxiv + 500, illustrations. [euro]69. ...

Fingierte Welten in der agyptischen Literatur des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr.: Grenzuberschreitung, Reisemotiv und Fiktionalitat.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Fingierte Welten in der agyptischen Literatur des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr.: Grenzuberschreitung, Reisemotiv und Fiktionalitat. By GERALD MOERS. Probleme der Agyptologie, vol. 19. Leiden: BRILL, 2001. Pp. viii + 338. $75. This work was...

On Scrolls, Artefacts and Intellectual Property.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... On Scrolls, Artefacts and Intellectual Property. Edited by TIMOTHY H. LIM, HECTOR L. MACQUEEN, and CALUM M. CARMICHAEL. Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series, vol. 38. Sheffield: SHEFFIELD ACADEMIC PRESS, 2001. Pp. 269....

Knowledge, Control and Sex: Studies in Biblical Thought, Culture and Worldview.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Knowledge, Control and Sex: Studies in Biblical Thought, Culture and Worldview. By MEIR MALUL. Tel Aviv: ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER PUBLICATIONS, 2002. Pp. xi + 582. $90. Knowledge, Control and Sex is a vast, ambitious, complex, and challenging...

Formation Processes of the First Developed Neolithic Societies in the Zagros and the Northern Mesopotamian Plain.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Formation Processes of the First Developed Neolithic Societies in the Zagros and the Northern Mesopotamian Plain. By FRANCESCA BALOSSI RESTELLI. Studi di preistoria orientale, vol. 1. Rome: DIPARTIMENTO DI SCIENZE STORICHE ARCHEOLOGICHE...

Edelsteine in der Bibel.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Edelsteine in der Bibel. Edited by WOLFGANG ZWICKEL. Mainz: VERLAG PHILLIP VON ZABERN, 2002. Pp. vii + 99, illus. [euro]24.80. Humankind has always been fascinated by gemstones (precious stones and jewels) that have formed part of the...

Reform in the Balance: The Defense of Literary Culture in Mid-Tang China.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Reform in the Balance: The Defense of Literary Culture in Mid-Tang China. By ANTHONY DEBLASI SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Albany: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, 2002. Pp. 214. $57.50 (cloth); $18.95 (paper). This...

Zhu Xi's Reading of the Analects: Canon, Commentary, and the Classical Tradition.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Zhu Xi's Reading of the Analects: Canon, Commentary, and the Classical Tradition. By DANIEL K. GARDNER. New York: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2003. Pp. 226. $52.50 (cloth); $19.50 (paper). This is a small gem of a book, representing...

Phantasmic Anatomy of the Statues of Mathura.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Phantasmic Anatomy of the Statues of Mathura. By SANDRINE GILL. New Delhi: MUNSHIRAM MANOHARLAL, 2000. Pp. xxvii + 112, figs., illus. Rs 450. The question most often asked by a visitor to a gallery of Indian art is "Why do the images have...

Jnanagarbha's Commentary on Just the Maitreya Chapter from the Samdhinirmocanasutra: Study, Translation, and Tibetan Text.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Jnanagarbha's Commentary on Just the Maitreya Chapter from the Samdhinirmocanasutra: Study, Translation, and Tibetan Text. By JOHN POWERS. New Delhi: INDIAN COUNCIL OF PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH, 1998. Pp. xii + 156. Over roughly the last...

The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... The Specter of Speciesism: Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals. By PAUL WALDAU. American Academy of Religion, Academy Series. Oxford: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2002. Pp. xvi + 303. This important book is a study of the views of animals...

A Dictionary of Pali: Part I, a--kh.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... A Dictionary of Pali: Part I, a--kh. By MARGARET CONE. Oxford: PALI TEXT SOCIETY, 2001. Pp. xxiv + 778. [pounds sterling]25. It is a privilege and a delight to be able to welcome an historic publication, the first volume of Margaret Cone's...

Beyond Hindu and Muslim: Multiple Identity in Narratives from Village India.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Beyond Hindu and Muslim: Multiple Identity in Narratives from Village India. By PETER GOTTSCHALK. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2000. Pp. xviii + 215; photos, maps, $49.95. It is March 2002, as I finish reading Peter Gottschalk's...

Freedom Through Inner Renunciation: Sankara's Philosophy in a New Light.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Freedom Through Inner Renunciation: Sankara's Philosophy in a New Light. By ROGER MARCAURELLE. Albany: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, 2000. Pp. xvii + 269. $19.95 (paper). A widespread interpretation of Sankara's Advaita Vedanta holds...

The Method of Early Advaita Vedanta.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... The Method of Early Advaita Vedanta. By MICHAEL COMANS. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 2000. Pp. xxiv + 492. Rs 495. What are we to make of a philosophy that promises to free us from the bonds of limited existence merely by conveying an...

The Making of Sikh Scripture.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... The Making of Sikh Scripture. By GURINDER SINGH MANN. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2001. Pp. xii + 193. $39.95. The Making of Sikh Scripture offers an interesting account of the genesis, evolution, and canonization of the foundational...

Shih-shuo Hsin-yu: A New Account of Tales of the World.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Shih-shuo Hsin-yu: A New Account of Tales of the World. Translated by RICHARD B. MATHER. 2nd edition, revised. Michigan Monographs in Chinese Studies, no. 95. Ann Arbor: CENTER FOR CHINESE STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 2002. Pp. xxxviii +...

Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Queen of Sheba: Treasures from Ancient Yemen. Edited by ST. JOHN SIMPSON. London: BRITISH MUSEUM PRESS, 2002. Pp. 224, illus. [pounds sterling]24.99 (paper). Fascination for the Queen of Sheba shows no signs of abating. The exhibition of...

A Brief History of Ancient Israel.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... A Brief History of Ancient Israel. By VICTOR H. MATTHEWS. Louisville: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX PRESS, 2002. Pp. xv + 171. $16.95 (paper). Right from the outset (pp. xi-xiii), Matthews presents his Brief History as "particularly student...

Amos--The Prophet and His Oracles: Research on the Book of Amos.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Amos--The Prophet and His Oracles: Research on the Book of Amos. By M. DANIEL CARROLL RODAS. Louisville: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX PRESS, 2002. Pp. xiv + 224. $32.95 (paper). The Biblical book of Amos has been an exceptionally popular topic...

Biblical Hebrew for Students of Modern Israeli Hebrew.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Biblical Hebrew for Students of Modern Israeli Hebrew. By MARC ZVI BRETTLER. Yale Language Series. New Haven: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2002. Pp. xii + 355. $40.00. Because many have been exposed to Modern Israeli Hebrew (MIH) and then become...

Magic and Divination in the Ancient World.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Magic and Divination in the Ancient World. Edited by LEDA CIRAOLO and JONATHAN SEIDEL. Ancient Magic and Divination, vol. 2. Leiden: STYX-BRILL, 2002. Pp. xii + 151. $69. This modest volume presents the rather heterogeneous proceedings of...

Midasstadt in Phrygien: Eine Sagenumwobene Statte im anatolischen Hochland.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Midasstadt in Phrygien: Eine Sagenumwobene Statte im anatolischen Hochland. By DIETRICH BERNDT. Zaberns Bilderbande zur Archaologie. Mainz: VERLAG PHILIPP VON ZABERN, 2002. Pp. 80, illus. [euro]34.80. Besides its extensively excavated, well...

Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia.(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. By JEAN BOTTERO. Translated by TERESA LAVENDER FAGAN. Chicago: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, 2001. Pp. xiii + 246. $30. Recognized as a leading authority on the religion of ancient Mesopotamia, as well as an...

Indian Fire Ritual.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Indian Fire Ritual. By MUSASHI TACHIKAWA, SHRIKANT BAHULKAR, AND MADHAVI KOLHATKAR. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 2001. Pp. xii + 212. Rs. 495. This volume is primarily a record of a Pavitresti ritual performed in Pune on July 27, 1979. The...

A Concordance of Buddhist Birth Stories.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... A Concordance of Buddhist Birth Stories, 3rd ed. By LESLIE GREY, M.D. Oxford: PALI TEXT SOCIETY, 2000. Pp. xiii + 622. This third edition of the Concordance follows upon the first edition (1990) and the "second revised and enlarged edition"...

The Holy Cow and Other Animals: A Selection of Indian Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... The Holy Cow and Other Animals: A Selection of Indian Paintings from the Art Institute of Chicago. Edited by PRATAPADITYA PAL and BETTY SEID. Chicago: THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO, 2002. Pp. 79. $19.95. [Distributed by Univ. of Washington...

Ceremonies funeraires et postfuneraires en Inde: La tradition derriere les rites.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Ceremonies funeraires et postfuneraires en Inde: La tradition derriere les rites. By MARCELLE SAINDON. Quebec: LES PRESSES DE L'UNIVERSITE LAVAL, 2000. Pp. 186. $25. This book is somewhat misleadingly titled. Its first half provides a...

Self and Self-Transformation in the History of Religions.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Self and Self-Transformation in the History of Religions. Edited by DAVID SHULMAN and GUY G. STROUMSA. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2002. Pp. xii + 268. $24.95 (paper). This collection of essays, originating at a symposium in Israel...

Gavesanam, or on the Track of the Cow and in Search of the Mysterious Word and in Search of the Hidden Light.(Brief Reviews)(Book Review)
July 1, 2003... Gavesanam, or on the Track of the Cow and in Search of the Mysterious Word and in Search of the Hidden Light. By SEBASTIAN J. CARRI. Beitrage zur Kenntnis sudasiatischer Sprachen und Literaturen, vol. 6. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ, 2000. Pp. ix +...

American Oriental Society Honorary Membership.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Over the years, Honorary Membership in the American Oriental Society has been conferred upon the following scholars of international repute in recognition of the important scholarly work they have contributed to their fields of research and the...

American Oriental Society Life Membership.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Life Membership in the American Oriental Society is a membership option chosen by those who wish to invest in the society's future by making a one-time payment of at least 30 times the current annual membership dues (currently a total of $2,100...