The Journal of the American Oriental Society articles from October 2000

The Journal of the American Oriental Society archives from October 2000

THE RITUAL PRAGMATICS OF A VEDIC HYMN: THE "RIDDLE HYMN" AND THE PRAVARGYA RITUAL.(Critical Essay)
October 1, 2000... Thc present paper explores the relation of the "riddle hymn," Rgveda 1.164, with the Pravargya ritual, one of the few rituals that are explicitly referred to in the Rgveda. Starting from a few verses which have a well-established and generally...

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MANDARIN.
October 1, 2000... The received view of standard Mandarin is that it has been Pekingese-based for at least six hundred years. Recent research, little known outside a small circle of specialists, has revealed that this view is flawed and that for most of its...

A COMMON SOURCE FOR THE LATE BABYLONIAN CHRONICLES DEALING WITH THE EIGHTH AND SEVENTH CENTURIES.(Critical Essay)
October 1, 2000... The nature of the sources of the Babylonian chronicles remains a matter of controversy even after decades of occasional discussion. Here statistical evidence is presented that the sources of the chronicles dealing with political events up to...

SUMBAT [DAVIT.sup.[subset]]IS-DZE AND THE VOCABULARY OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY IN THE ERA OF GEORGIAN UNIFICATION.
October 1, 2000... In the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the medieval Georgian kingdom was one of the preeminent powers of the Christian East. A "Georgianized" branch of the Perso-Armenian Bagratid dynasty had overseen Georgia's transformation from a...

ON EARLY ISLAMIC HISTORIOGRAPHY: ABU [ISMA.sup.[subset]]IL AL-AZDI AND HIS FUTUH AL-SHAM.
October 1, 2000... The present paper examines the Futuh al-sham (Conquests of Syria) attributed to Abu [Isma.sup.[subset]]il al-Azdi, in an attempt to establish its authenticity, date, and provenance. Several historical sources confirm the authorship of this work...

INTERIORIZED FIRE RITUALS IN INDIA AND IN TIBET.
October 1, 2000... The term "interiorization of ritual" bears a multitude of meanings. It may pertain to a mental performance of the ritual; to the replacement of the ritual with a continuous process of life, such as breathing or eating; to a particular way of...

"An Esoteric Babylonian Commentary" Revisited.
October 1, 2000... This paper aims at interpreting a previously published Babylonian commentary. It is suggested that the tablet provides a further example of a later corpus of texts that reveal the predominance of astrology over other divinatory techniques. ...

Habiru-like Bands in the Assyrian Empire and Bands in Biblical Historiography.
October 1, 2000... The first part of this article discusses the term [urbi.sup.LU] mentioned three times in Assyrian royal inscriptions. It is suggested that this word refers to groups of fugitives who, in response to Assyrian military campaigns, fled from their...

Darwinism, Genre Theory, and City Laments.
October 1, 2000... Drawing on more sophisticated understandings of Darwinism characteristic of contemporary biology, I address questions about the origins, evolution, and interrelations of literary genres, with specific attention given to Israelite and...

Drama and Ritual of Early Hinduism.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Drama and Ritual of Early Hinduism. By NATALIA LIDOVA. Performing Arts Series, vol. IV. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 1994. Pp. xiii + 141. Rs 125. Drama and Ritual of Early Hinduism, by Natalia Lidova, Senior Research Fellow at the...

Raum-zeitliche Vermittlung der Transzendenz: Zur "sakramentalen" Dimension religioser Tradition.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Raum-zeitliche Vermittlung der Transzendenz: Zur "sakramentalen" Dimension religioser Tradition. Edited by GERHARD OBERHAMMER and MARCUS SCHMUCKER. Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, phil-hist. Kl., Sitzungberichte, no. 665 (Beitrage...

Eclecticism and Modern Hindu Discourse.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Eclecticism and Modern Hindu Discourse. By BRIAN A. HATCHER. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1999. Pp. xi + 200. $45. This book is a sensitive, subtle, and catholic meditation on eclecticism as a category in the study of religion, using...

Karnamoksam: A Play by Pukalentippulavar.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Karnamoksam: A Play by Pukalentippulavar. Translated by HANNE M. DE BRUIN. Publications du Department d'indologie, vol. 87. Pondichery: L'INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE PONDICHERY and L'ECOLE FRANCAISE D'EXTREME-ORIENT. 1988. Pp. xxxvii + 260 (paper)....

Nagarjunian Disputations: A Philosophical Journey through an Indian Looking-Glass.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Nagarjunian Disputations: A Philosophical Journey through an Indian Looking-Glass. By THOMAS E. WOOD. Monographs of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy, no. 11. Honolulu: UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PRESS, 1994. Pp. xviii + 405. $22...

Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions of South and Southeast Asia. Edited by JULIANE SCHOHER. Honolulu: UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII PRESS, 1997. Pp. xi + 366, 4 plates. $49. The papers included in this useful volume were collected from two...

Jnandev Studies, vols. I and II: Songs on Yoga: Teaching of the Maharastrian Naths; vol. III: The Conservative Vaisnava: Anonymous Songs of the Jnandev Gatha.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Jnandev Studies, vols. I and II: Songs on Yoga: Teaching of the Maharastrian Naths; vol. III: The Conservative Vaisnava: Anonymous Songs of the Jnandev Gatha. By CATHARINA KIEHNLE. Alt- und Neu-Indische Studien, vols. 48.1 and 2. Stuttgart:...

Chantyal Dictionary and Texts.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Chantyal Dictionary and Texts. By MICHAEL NOONAN, with R. P. Bhulanja, J. M. Chhantyal, [and] Win. Pagliuca. Trends in Linguistics, Documentation, 17. Berlin and New York: MOUTON DE GRUYTER, 1999. Pp. 615. DM 298. Most of the Chantyal, a...

A History of India.(Review)
October 1, 2000... A History of India. By BURTON STEIN. The Blackwell History of the World. Oxford: BLACKWELL PUBLISHERS, 1998. Pp. xvi + 432. $26.95 (paper). Stein's last major work was, at the time of his death in 1996, "almost, but not quite, finished"...

Targum Studies, vol. 2: Targum and Peshitta.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Targum Studies, vol. 2: Targum and Peshitta. Edited by PAUL V M. FLESHER. South Florida Studies in the History of Judaism, vol. 165. Atlanta: SCHOLARS PRESS, 1998. Pp. xx + 252, illustrations. $59.95. With more volumes of the Peshitta...

The Age of Solomon: Scholarship at the Turn of the Millennium.(Review)
October 1, 2000... The Age of Solomon: Scholarship at the Turn of the Millennium. Edited by LOWELL K. HANDY. Studies in the History and Culture of the Ancient Near East, vol. 11. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1997. Pp. xx + 539, 2 maps. $115. This collection of...

The Ethos of the Cosmos: The Genesis of Moral Imagination in the Bible.(Review)
October 1, 2000... The Ethos of the Cosmos: The Genesis of Moral Imagination in the Bible. By WILLIAM P. BROWN. Grand Rapids, Mich.: WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING Co., 1999. Pp. xviii + 458. $35 (paper). William P. Brown has written a wide-ranging study of...

A Grammar of Epigraphic Hebrew.(Review)
October 1, 2000... A Grammar of Epigraphic Hebrew. By SANDRA LANDIS GOGEL. SBL Resources for Biblical Study, vol. 23. Atlanta: SCHOLARS PRESS, 1998. Pp. xx + 522. $44.95. Epigraphic Hebrew has been attested since the first extrabiblical Hebrew inscription...

Die fruhe Konigszeit in Israel, 10. Jahrhundert v. Chr.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Die fruhe Konigszeit in Israel, 10. Jahrhundert v. Chr. By WALTER DIETRICH. Stuttgart: W. KOHLHAMMER, 1997. Pp. 312, illustrations, maps. DM 44. Once the reader picks up Dietrich's book, he will find it very difficult to put it down again....

Qumran Grotte 4.X VIII: Textes hebreux.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Qumran Grotte 4.X VIII: Textes hebreux (4Q521-4Q528, 4Q576-579). By EMILE PUECH. Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, vol. 25. Oxford: CLARENDON PRESS, 1998. Pp. xviii + 229, 2 figures, 15 plates. $105. In recent years volumes in the series...

Modern Hebrew for Biblical Scholars: An Annotated Chrestomathy with an Outline Grammar and a Glossary.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Modern Hebrew for Biblical Scholars: An Annotated Chrestomathy with an Outline Grammar and a Glossary. By TAKAMITSU MURAOKA. Second, revised and enlarged edition. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 1998. Pp. xlv + 183. DM 58. The appearance...

The Archaeology of Israel: Constructing the Past, Interpreting the Present.(Review)
October 1, 2000... The Archaeology of Israel: Constructing the Past, Interpreting the Present. Edited by N. A. SILBERMAN and DAVID SMALL. JSOT Supplement Series, vol. 237. Sheffield: SHEFFIELD ACADEMIC PRESS, 1997. This volume is a collection of fifteen...

The Children of Noah: Jewish Seafaring in Ancient Times.(Review)
October 1, 2000... The Children of Noah: Jewish Seafaring in Ancient Times. By RAPHAEL PATAI, with contributions by JAMES HORNELL and JOHN M. LUNDQUIST. Princeton: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1998. Pp. xix + 227, maps, illustrations. $24.95. Ancient Jewish...

Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Seagoing Ships and Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant. By SHELLEY WACHSMANN. College Station, Tex.: TEXAS A. & M. UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1998. Pp. xii + 417, maps, illustrations. $80. In recent years, scholarship on ancient trade and exchange...

Le Commerce en Egypte ancienne.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Le Commerce en Egypte ancienne. Edited by NICOLAS GRIMAL and BERNADETTE MENU. Bibliotheque d'etude, vol. 121. Cairo: INSTITUT FRANCAIS D'ARCHEOLOGIE ORIENTALE, 1998. Pp. ix + 297, maps, illus. This book had its genesis in a colloquium...

Textcorpus und Worterbuch: Aspekte zur agyptischen Lexikographie.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Textcorpus und Worterbuch: Aspekte zur agyptischen Lexikographie. Edited by STEFAN GRUNERT and INOELORE HAFEMANN. Probleme der Agyptologie, vol. 14. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1999. Pp. xlv + 406. HR 165, $97.50. These are the twenty-seven...

Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Amenhotep III: Perspectives on His Reign. Edited by DAVID O'CONNOR and ERIC 14. CLINE. Ann Arbor: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS, 1998. Pp. xvi + 393, maps, illustrations $59.50. This book is a collection of essays treating various facets of...

[much less than]Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt. ...[much greater than]: Agyptische Portratmumien.(Review)
October 1, 2000... [much less than]Der zierlichste Anblick der Welt....[much greater than]: Agyptische Portratmumien. By BARBARA BORG. Zaberns Bildbande zur Archaologie; Sonderhefte der Antiken Welt. Mainz: VERLAG PHILIPP VON ZABERN 1998. Pp. 107, maps,...

Il Libro dei morti dell'antica Ugarit: Le piu antiche testimonianze sull'Aldila prima della Bibbia.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Il Libro dei morti dell'antica Ugarit: Le piu antiche testimonianze sull'Aldila prima della Bibbia. By MASSIMO BALDACCI. Casale Monferrato: EDIZIONI PIEMME, 1998. Pp. 222, illustrations. For those unfamiliar with the corpus of cuneiform...

Handbook of Ugaritic Studies.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Handbook of Ugaritic Studies. Edited by W. G. E. WATSON and N. WYATT. Handbuch der Orientalistik, vol. I.39. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1999. Pp. xiii + 892. HFI 396, $233. This volume joins a growing number of valuable tools advancing the study...

Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur. Edited by RICHARD L. ZETTLER and LEE HORNE. Philadelphia: UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY, 1998. Pp. xv + 195, maps, illustrations, plates. $49.95 (cloth); S34.95 (paper)....

Mesopotamien: Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, vol. 160.3.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Mesopotamien: Akkade-Zeit und Ur III-Zeit. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, vol. 160.3 By WALTHER SALLABERGER and AAGE WESTENHOLZ. Freiburg, Switzerland: UNIVERSITATSVERLAG, 1999. Pp. 414, map. PS 118. This volume completes a series of...

Akkadische Rituale aus Hattusa: Die Sammeltafel KBo XXXVI 29 und verwandte Fragmente.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Akkadische Rituale aus Hattusa: Die Sammeltafel KBo XXXVI 29 und verwandte Fragmente. By DANIEL SCHWEMER. Texte der Hethiter, vol. 23. Heidelberg: UNIVERSITATSVERLAG C. WINTER, 1998. Pp. xxiv + 194, 6 plates. DM 98 (paper). The book under...

Die Ninegalla-Hymne: Die Wohnungnahme Inannas in Nippur in altbabylonischer Zeit.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Die Ninegalla-Hymne: Die Wohnungnahme Inannas in Nippur in altbabylonischer Zeit. By HERMANN BEHRENS. Freiburger Altorientalisehe Studien, vol. 21. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 1998. Pp. ix + 164, plates. This book is the posthumous...

Monumental Art of the Assyrian Empire: Dynamics of Composition Styles.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Monumental Art of the Assyrian Empire: Dynamics of Composition Styles. By PAULINE ALBENDA. Sources and Monographs on the Ancient Near East, vol. 3.1. Malibu, Calif.: UNDENA PUBLICATIONS, 1998. Pp. iv + 72, maps, 27 figures, 29 plates. $13...

Le tonnerre, intellect parfait (NH VI.2).(Review)
October 1, 2000... Le tonnerre, intellect parfait (NH VI.2). By PAUL-HUBERT POIRIER, with two contributions by WOLF-PETER FUNK. Bibliotheque copte de Nag Hammadi, section "Textes," vol. 22. Louvain: PEETERS; Quebec City: LES PRESSES DE L'UNIVERSITE LAVAL, 1995....

Simon le "magicien." Actes 8,5-25 et l'accusation de magie contre les prophetes thaumaturges dans l'antiquite.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Simon le "magicien." Actes 8,5-25 et l'accusation de magie contre les prophetes thaumaturges dans l'antiquite. By FLORENT HEINTZ. Cahiers de la Revue Biblique, vol. 39. Paris: J. GABALDA, 1997. Pp. 178. When a scholar of Etienne...

The Shaping of an American Islamic Discourse: A Memorial to Fazlur Rahman.(Review)
October 1, 2000... The Shaping of an American Islamic Discourse: A Memorial to Fazlur Rahman. Edited by EARLE H. WAUGH and FREDERICK M. DENNY. South Florida-Rochester-Saint Louis Studies on Religion and the Social Order. Atlanta: SCHOLARS PRESS, 1998. Pp. ix +...

The Social Origins of Islam: Mind, Economy, Discourse.(Review)
October 1, 2000... The Social Origins of Islam: Mind, Economy, Discourse. By MOHAMMED A. BAMYEH. Minneapolis: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS, 1999. Pp. xiii + 316. $18.95 (paper). The question of the origins of Islam continues to attract attention from a...

Ibn [subset]Arabi in the Later Islamic Tradition: The Making of a Polemical Image in Medieval Islam.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Ibn [subset]Arabi in the Later Islamic Tradition: The Making of a Polemical Image in Medieval Islam. By ALEXANDER D. KNYSH. Albany: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, 1999. Pp. xvi + 449. The spiritual heritage of Muhyi 1-Din Ibn...

Bibliography of Islamic Philosophy.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Bibliography of Islamic Philosophy. By HANS DAIBER, Two volumes. Handbuch der Orientalistik: Abteilung 1, der Nahe und Mittlere Osten, vol. 43. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1999. Pp. lv + 974; 548. HFI 756, $444. In this monumental work Professor...

Religion and Politics under the Early [subset]Abbasids: The Emergence of the Proto-Sunni Elite.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Religion and Politics under the Early [subset]Abbasids: The Emergence of the Proto-Sunni Elite. By MUHAMMAD QASIM ZAMAN. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1997. Pp. 232. $92. The relation between religious and political authority in the early Islamic...

Endowments, Rulers and Community: Waqf al-Haramayn Ottoman Algiers.(Review)
October 1, 2000... Endowments, Rulers and Community: Waqf al-Haramayn Ottoman Algiers. By MIRIAM HOEXTER. Studies in Islamic Law and Society, vol. 6. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1998. Pp. vii + 188. HF1 98, $58. This brilliant analysis of the Waqf al-Haramayn in...

From Slave to Sultan: The Career of al-Mansur Qalawun and the Consolidation of Mamluk Rule in Egypt and Syria (678-689 A.H./1279-1290).(Review)
October 1, 2000... From Slave to Sultan: The Career of al-Mansur Qalawun and the Consolidation of Mamluk Rule in Egypt and Syria (678-689 A.H./1279-1290). By LINDA S. NORTHRUP. Freiburger Islamstudien, vol. 18. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 1998. Pp. 349. DM...

In the Vicinity of the Righteous: Ziyara and the Veneration of Muslim Saints in Late Medieval Egypt.(Review)
October 1, 2000... In the Vicinity of the Righteous: Ziyara and the Veneration of Muslim Saints in Late Medieval Egypt. By CHRISTOPHER S. TAYLOR. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1999. Pp. xi + 264. HFI 159, $93.50. This interesting and well-written book is an important...

La Capitale de l'Egypte jusqu'a l'epoque fatimide, al-Qahira et al-Fustat: Essai de reconstitution topographique.(Review)
October 1, 2000... La Capitale de l'Egypte jusqu'a l'epoque fatimide, al-Qahira et al-Fustat: Essai de reconstitution topographique. By AYMAN FU[congtains]AD SAYYLD. Beiruter Texte und Studien, vol. 48. Beirut and Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 1998. Pp. xl +...

From Anatolia to Indonesia: Opium Trade and the Dutch Community of Izmir, 1820-1940.(Review)
October 1, 2000... From Anatolia to Indonesia: Opium Trade and the Dutch Community of Izmir, 1820-1940. By JAN SCHMIDT. Istanbul: NEDERLANDS HISTORISCH-ARCHAEOLOGISCH INSTITUUT, 1998. Pp. 222. HFl 72. This book is about a neglected aspect of the opium...