The Journal of the American Oriental Society articles from July 2007

The Journal of the American Oriental Society archives from July 2007

For want of a hand: a note on the "Hereditary House of Jin" and Sima Qian's "Chunqiu".
July 1, 2007... "The business of literature is not to answer questions, but to state them fairly." Thornton Wilder in a letter to John Towney, 6 March 1928 (Wilder claimed he was quoting Chekhov) I. INTRODUCTION Shortly before his...

The image of Assyria in Isaiah 2:5-22: the campaign motif reversed.
July 1, 2007... In 1983, Peter Machinist published an essay entitled "Assyria and its Image in the First Isaiah." (1) In it, he demonstrated that many passages in First Isaiah describe Assyria in language closely parallel to that of the Neo-Assyrian royal...

On atmatusti as a source of dharma.
July 1, 2007... The sources of Hindu dharma have been discussed in places too numerous to mention exhaustively (see, e.g., Jolly 1928: 1-4; Kane 1962-75: 1.6-7; Lingat 1973: 3-17). Three sources or "roots" (mula) are most commonly mentioned in the standard...

Child abandonment and homes for unwed mothers in ancient India: Buddhist sources.
July 1, 2007... Much is known about ordinary family life in ancient India, and about the rituals and practices that were expected to order life cycles, at least ideally and for those who belonged to classes whose routines were recorded or referred to in...

Arabic in India: a survey and classification of its uses, compared with Persian.
July 1, 2007... Arabic in India carries an almost absolute Islamic identity, to the extent that even the study of pre-Islamic pagan poetry is ascribed to a spiritual impetus. This is not surprising, for it is generally acknowledged that the Arabic language has...

Seals and sealing practices in hatti-land: remarks a propos the seal impressions from the Westbau in Hattusa.
July 1, 2007... During the 1990-91 excavation seasons in the Upper City of the Hittite capital Bogazkoy/Hattusa more than 3400 sealed bullae and clay lumps were found in a structure called the Westbau. Not only the very size of the find but also the fact that...

Epistemology of Perception: Gangesa's Tattvacintamani, Jewel Of Reflection On The Truth (About Epistemology): The Perception Chapter (Pratyaksa-khanda) Transliterated Text, Translation, and Philosophical Commentary.
July 1, 2007... Epistemology of Perception: Gangesa's Tattvacintamani, Jewel Of Reflection On The Truth (About Epistemology): The Perception Chapter (Pratyaksa-khanda) Transliterated Text, Translation, and Philosophical Commentary. By STEPHEN H. PHILLIPS AND...

The Rig Veda Between Two Worlds. Le Rgveda entre deux mondes.
July 1, 2007... The Rig Veda Between Two Worlds. Le Rgveda entre deux mondes. By STEPHANIE JAMISON. Publications de I'Institut de civilisation indienne, no. 74. Paris: College de France, 2007. Pp. 172. This series of lectures given at the College de France...

Carudatta: Ein indisches Schauspiel: Kritische Edition und Ubersetzung mil einer Studie des Prakrits der "Trivandrum-Dramen.".
July 1, 2007... Carudatta: Ein indisches Schauspiel: Kritische Edition und Ubersetzung mil einer Studie des Prakrits der "Trivandrum-Dramen." BY ANNA AURELIA ESPOSITO. Drama und Theater in Sudasien, vol. 4. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2004. Pp. x + 408....

The Self-Possessed: Deity and Spirit Possession in South Asian Literature and Civilization.
July 1, 2007... The Self-Possessed: Deity and Spirit Possession in South Asian Literature and Civilization. BY FREDERICK M. SMITH. NEW YORK: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2006. Pp. xxvii + 701. $60. An important and path-breaking book, begun in 1992, seen and...

Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult.
July 1, 2007... Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult. By ROGER D. WOODARD. UrbanA: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS, 2006. Pp. xiv + 296. The title of this book is best read backwards to get an accurate sense of its focus and contents, for it...

The Dhivehi Language: A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Dhivehi and Its Dialects. 2 vols.
July 1, 2007... The Dhivehi Language: A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Dhivehi and Its Dialects. 2 vols. By SONIA FRITZ. Beitrage zur Sudasien-Institute Universitat Heidelberg, vol. 191. Wurzburg: ERGON VERLAG, 2002. Pp. xvi + 270, vi + 280. [euro]75....

Die Macht des Namens: Altorientalische Strategien zur Selbsterhaltung.
July 1, 2007... Die Macht des Namens: Altorientalische Strategien zur Selbsterhaltung. By KAREN RADNER. SANTAG, vol. 8. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2006. Pp. ix + 341. [euro]98. In this study, Radner argues that "Ancient Oriental Man," anxiously...

Enuma Elis: The Standard Babylonian Creation Myth.
July 1, 2007... Enuma Elis: The Standard Babylonian Creation Myth. By PHILIPPE TALON. State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts, vol. 4. Helsinki: THE NEO-ASSYRIAN TEXT CORPUS PROJECT, 2005. Pp. xix + 138. $34 (paper). The publication of the cuneiform...

The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra.
July 1, 2007... The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra. By MARGUERITE YON. Winona Lake, Indiana: EISENBRAUNS, 2006. Pp. viii + 179, illus. $34.50. This much-anticipated volume is an updated version of Yon's La cite d 'Ougarit sur le tell de Ras Shamra...

Die Ritualtradition der Ambazzi: Eine philologische Bearbeitung und entstehungsgeschichtliche Analyse der Ritualtexte CTH 391, CTH 429 und CTH 463.
July 1, 2007... Die Ritualtradition der Ambazzi: Eine philologische Bearbeitung und entstehungsgeschichtliche Analyse der Ritualtexte CTH 391, CTH 429 und CTH 463. By BIRGIT CHRISTIANSEN. Studien zu den Bogazkoy-Texten. vol. 48. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG,...

The Anatomy of a Mesopotamian City: Survey and Soundings at Mashkan-shapir.
July 1, 2007... The Anatomy of a Mesopotamian City: Survey and Soundings at Mashkan-shapir. By ELIZABETH C. STONE and PAUL ZIMANSKY. Winona Lake, Indiana: EISENBRAUNS, 2004. Pp. xviii + 504, illus. $69.50. An archaeological expedition to Maskan-sapir:...

Ornamental Wall Painting in the Art of the Assyrian Empire.
July 1, 2007... Ornamental Wall Painting in the Art of the Assyrian Empire. By PAULINE ALBENDA. Cuneiform Monographs, vol. 28. Leiden: BRILL/STYX, 2005. Pp. xiii + 148, illus. $135. Pauline Albenda has performed a service to the study of Assyrian art by...

The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts: Texts from the Pyramid Age.
July 1, 2007... The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. By JAMES P. ALLEN. Writings from the Ancient World, vol. 23. Atlanta: SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, 2005. Pp. x + 471. $39.95 (paper). Texts from the Pyramid Age. By NIGEL C. STRUDWICK. Writings from...

The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt: Art, Identity and Funerary Religion.
July 1, 2007... The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt: Art, Identity and Funerary Religion. By CHRISTINA RIGGS. Oxford Studies in Ancient Culture and Representation. Oxford: OXFORD: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2005. Pp. xxiii + 334. illus. $150. The funerary...

"Modell Agypten": Adoption von Innovationen im Mesopotamien des 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr.
July 1, 2007... "Modell Agypten": Adoption von Innovationen im Mesopotamien des 3. Jahrtausends v. Chr. By OSKAR KAELIN. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, Series Archaeologica, vol. 26. Fribourg: ACADEMIC PRESS, 2006. Pp. 204, illus. FS 69. Although Egypt and...

Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity.
July 1, 2007... Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity. By ANN E. KILLEBREW. Archaeology and Biblical Studies, vol. 9. Atlanta: SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, 2005, Pp. xx + 362, illus. $39.95 (paper). This book reflects the work of an archaeologist who has...

Hosea 2: Metaphor and Rhetoric in Historical Perspective.
July 1, 2007... Hosea 2: Metaphor and Rhetoric in Historical Perspective. By BRAD E. KELLE. Academica Biblica, vol. 20. Atlanta: SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, 2005. Pp. xiv + 355. $45.95 (paper). Kelle attacks the thorny problems of reading Hosea 2 by...

The Sepphoris Synagogue: Deciphering an Ancient Message through its Archaeological and Socio-Historical Contents.
July 1, 2007... The Sepphoris Synagogue: Deciphering an Ancient Message through its Archaeological and Socio-Historical Contents. By ZEEV WEISS. Jerusalem: ISRAEL EXPLORATION SOCIETY, 2005. Pp. xiv + 360, illus. $80. Sprawling across an unassuming hilly...

Images and Gender: Contributions to the Hermeneutics of Reading Ancient Art.
July 1, 2007... Images and Gender: Contributions to the Hermeneutics of Reading Ancient Art. Edited by SILVIA SCHROER. Orbis Bibilicus et Orientalis, vol. 220. Freiburg: ACADEMIC PRRSS, 2006. Pp. 383, plates. FS 98. In 2004 an international symposium was...

Aristotelian Rhetoric in Syriac: Barhebraeus, Butyrum Sapientiae: Book of Rhetoric.
July 1, 2007... Aristotelian Rhetoric in Syriac: Barhebraeus, Butyrum Sapientiae: Book of Rhetoric. By JOHN W. WATT, with Daniel Isaac, Julian Faultless, and Ayman Shihadeh. Aristoteles Semitico-Latinus. Leiden: BRILL, 2005. Pp. X + 484. $250. ...

Il periplo del Mare Eritreo di anonimo del I. sec. D. C. e altri testi sul commercio fra Roma el'Oriente attraverso I'Oceano Indiano a la Via della Seta.
July 1, 2007... Il periplo del Mare Eritreo di anonimo del I. sec. D. C. e altri testi sul commercio fra Roma el'Oriente attraverso I'Oceano Indiano a la Via della Seta. By STEFANO BELFIORE. Rome: SOCIETA EGOGRAFICA ITALIANA, 2004. Pp. 278, illus. (paper). ...

Six Dynasties Civilization.
July 1, 2007... Six Dynasties Civilization. By ALBERT E. DIEN. Early Chinese Civilization Series. New Haven: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2007. Pp. x + 610, maps. figs. $85. Albert Dien's Six Dynasties Civilization stands as both the culmination of a career's...

Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge.
July 1, 2007... Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge. By ROXANNE L. EUBEN. PRINCETON: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2006. Pp. 313. $29.95. Roxanne Euben has seized onto a particularly interesting idea, not only...