The Journal of the American Oriental Society articles from October 2007

The Journal of the American Oriental Society archives from October 2007

Between something and nothing (presidential address).
October 1, 2007... Let me say at the outset how grateful I am to the members of this august society, now in its 165th year of existence, and how humbled I have been by the honor of serving as its president for the past year. I thank you all, most sincerely. In...

Partisan dreams and prophetic visions: Shi'i critique in al-Masudi's history of the Abbasids.
October 1, 2007... Abu al-Husayn Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Masudi (d. 956), whom Ibn Khaldun called the Imam of the historians, is a well-studied figure. (1) These studies suggest that a close analysis of al-Masudi's work reveals, at times, a Shi'i bias. The...

"On that day when faces will be white or black" (Q3:106): towards a semiology of the face in the Arabo-Islamic tradition.
October 1, 2007... Your face is covered with a veil of beauty.--Abu Nuwas (1) My face looks like a wedding-cake left out in the rain.--W. H. Auden (2) 1. BLACK FACES IN THE MUSLIM RELIGIOUS IMAGINATION One of the most striking eschatological images...

The splitting of Skanda: distancing and assimilation narratives in the Mahabharata and ayurvedic sources.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION The Hindu narrative tradition is full of stories that involve a splitting of a god or goddess to form a new entity. At times these accounts become a formalized aspect of a sect's theology, as may be the case with Vaisnavite...

Wall carvings, elixirs, and the celestial king: an exegetic exercise on Du Fu's poems on two palaces.
October 1, 2007... National crises and personal plight set the murky tone of Du Fu's [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (712-70) poetry after the An Lushan [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (d. 757) rebellion, which began to cause havoc in the Tang empire in the...

A conversation in poems: Xie Lingyun, Xie Huilian, and Jiang Yan.
October 1, 2007... The substantial body of poems addressed by one distinguished poet to another is one of the glories of the Chinese poetic tradition. These pose a special challenge to the literary scholar. The study of old poems must proceed from the assumption...

Judean auxiliaries in Egypt's wars against Kush.
October 1, 2007... During the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, mercenaries and foreign soldiers served as combatants in the Egyptian army. They were first attested during the reign of Psammetichus I and their presence increased constantly. They came from mainland Greece,...

Theatre de l'Inde andenne.
October 1, 2007... Theatre de I'lnde andenne. Edited by LYNE BANSAT-BOUDON, with Nalini Balbir, Sylvain Broquet, Yves Codet, Andre Couture, Charles Malamoud, and Marie-Claude Porcher. Bibliotheque de la Pleiade, vol. 523. Paris: GALLIMARD, 2006. Pp. lxxii + 1574....

Studies in Jaina History and Culture.
October 1, 2007... Studies in Jaina History and Culture: Disputes and Dialogues. Edited by PETER FLUGEL. Routledge Advances in Jaina Studies. New York: ROUTLEDGE, 2006. Pp. xvi + 478. This book constitutes the inaugural volume of a new and hopefully...

History, Scripture and Controversy in a Medieval Jain Sect.
October 1, 2007... History, Scripture and Controversy in a Medieval Jain Sect. By PAUL DUNDAS, Routledge Advances in Jaina Studies. London: ROUTLEDGE, 2007. Pp. xiv + 274. $120. In a paper delivered at the 1978 meeting of the AOS, the late Kendall W. Folkert...

Mimamsa and Vedanta: Interaction and Continuity.
October 1, 2007... Mimamsa and Vedanta: Interaction and Continuity. Edited by JOHANNES BRONKHORST. Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference, vol. 10.3. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 2007. Pp. 260 + xii. Rs 600. This splendid volume is comprised of six...

The Self's Awareness of Itself: Bhatta Ramakantha's Arguments against the Buddhist Doctrine of No-Self.
October 1, 2007... The Self's Awareness of Itself: Bhatta Ramakantha's Arguments against the Buddhist Doctrine of No-Self. By ALEX WATSON. Publications of the De Nobili Research Library, vol. 32. Vienna: INTER PRESS CO. LTD., 2006. Pp. 443. In this...

The Maha-Vairocana-Abhisambodhi Tantra with Buddhaguhya's Commentary.
October 1, 2007... The Maha-Vairocana-Abhisambodhi Tantra with Buddhaguhya's Commentary. Translated by STEPHEN HODGE. New York: ROUTLEDGECURZON, 2003. Pp. 572. $150. This book is devoted to translating and briefly commenting on not two (as suggested by the...

A Dictionary of Technical Terms from Hindu Tantric Literature.
October 1, 2007... Tantrikabhidanakosa, vol. I: A Dictionary of Technical Terms from Hindu Tantric Literature. Edited by HELENE BRUNNER, GERARD OBERHAMMER, and ANDRE PADOUX. Beitrage zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens, no. 35. Vienna: VERLAG DER...

The Artists of Nathadwara.
October 1, 2007... The Artists of Nathadwara: The Practice of Painting in Rajasthan. By TRYNA LYONS. Bloomington: INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS, and Ahmedabad: MAPIN, 2004. Pp. vii + 360. plates, illus. The city of Nathadwara has since the seventeenth century been...

Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination.
October 1, 2007... Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination. By EBRAHIM MOOSA. Islamic Civilization and Muslim Networks. Chapel Hill: UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS, 2005. Pp. xi + 349. $22.50. Arguably for the best part of a century, but certainly for the...

The Kaymakam of Rumelia's 'Record Book of Complaints.
October 1, 2007... Grievance Administration (sikayet) in an Ottoman Province: The Kaymakam of Rumelia's 'Record Book of Complaints' of 1781-1783. Edited by MICHAEL URSINUS London: ROUTLEDGECURZON, 2005. Pp. xii + 190. This edition is the first book in the...

Medieval Islamic Philosophical Writings.
October 1, 2007... Medieval Islamic Philosophical Writings. Edited MUHAMMAD ALI KHALID. Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy. Cambridge: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2005. Pp. xlviii + 186. This volume contains a collection of translations of selected...

Sufi Commentaries on the Qur'an in Classical Islam.
October 1, 2007... Sufi Commentaries on the Qur'an in Classical Islam. By KRISTIN ZAHRA SANDS. Routledge Studies in the Quran. London: ROUTLEDGE, 2006. Pp. viii + 196. This fine contribution to Sufi tafsir studies provides a reliable and well-written guide...

The Islamic School of Law.
October 1, 2007... The Islamic School of Law: Evolution, Devolution, and Progress. Edited by PERI BEARMAN, RUDOLPH PETERS, and FRANK E. VOGEL. Harvard Series in Islamic Law 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Is LAMIC LEGAL STUDIES PROGRAM, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, 2005. Pp....

Judische deutsche Bibelubersetzungen vom ausgehenden 18.
October 1, 2007... Judische deutsche Bibelubersetzungen vom ausgehenden 18. bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts. By HANS JOACHIM BECHTHOLDT. Stuttgart: W. KOHLHAMMER, 2005. Pp. 682. [euro]60. Nothing is more helpful to a reviewer than knowing the genre...

Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a new Jewish Archaeology.
October 1, 2007... Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology. By STEVEN FINE. Cambridge: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2005. Pp. xvii + 267, illus. $75. Steven Fine's Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World is an impressive,...

Washing in Water: Trajectories of Ritual Bathing in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature.
October 1, 2007... Washing in Water: Trajectories of Ritual Bathing in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Literature. By JONATHAN D. LAWRENCE. Academia Biblica, vol. 23. Atlanta: SOCIETY OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, 2006. Pp. xix + 294, illus. $47.95 (paper). The...

Crafts and Images in Contact: Studies on Eastern Mediterranean art of the First Millennium BCE.
October 1, 2007... Crafts and Images in Contact: Studies on Eastern Mediterranean Art of the First Millennium BCE. Edited by CLAUDIA SUTER and CHRISTOPH UEHLINGER. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis, vol. 210. Fribourg: ACADEMIC PRESS, 2005. Pp. xxxi + 395, plates....

Akhenaten and Tutankhamum: Revolution and Restoration.
October 1, 2007... Akhenaten and Tutankhamum: Revolution and Restoration. By David P. SILVERMAN, JOSEF W. WEGNER, and JENNIFER HOUSER WEGNER. Philadelphia: THE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM, 2006. Pp. xi + 196, illus. $24.95. [Distrib. by Hopkins Fulfillment Service,...

Survey and Excavation: Mons Claudianus, 1987-1993: Ceramic: Vessels and Related Objects.
October 1, 2007... Survey and Excavation: Mons Claudianus, 1987-1993: Ceramic: Vessels and Related Objects. By VALERIE A. MAXFIELD and DAVID P. S. PEACOCK. Fouilles de I'IFAO, vol. 54. Cairo: INSTITUT FRANCAIS D'ARCHEOLOGIE ORIENTALE, 2006. Pp. xxii + 450, illus....

Cuneiform Inscriptions in the Collection of the Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem: The Old Babylonian Inscriptions.
October 1, 2007... Cuneiform Inscriptions in the Collection of the Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem: The Old Babylonian Inscriptions. By JOAN GOODNICK WESTENHOLZ and AAGE WESTENHOLZ. Cuneiform Monographs, vol. 33. Leiden: BRILL, 2006. Pp. xiii + 191, illus....

Altbabylonische Zeichenliste der sumerisch-literarischen Texte.
October 1, 2007... Altbabylonische Zeichenliste der sumerisch-literarischen Texte. By CATHERINE MITTERMAYER, with Pascal Attinger. Orbis Biblicus et Orientals, Sonderband. Freiburg: ACADEMIC PRESS, 2006. Pp. xi + 285. FS 85 (paper). For anyone working with...

Margins of Writing, Origins of Cultures.
October 1, 2007... Margins of Writing, Origins of Cultures. Edited by SETH L. SANDERS. Oriental Institute Seminars, vol. 2. Chicago: THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE, 2006. Pp. xi + 300, illus. $24.95. Originating in an Oriental Institute Symposium, "Margins of...

Archive and Bibliotheken in Babylon: Die Tontafeln der Grabung Robert Koldeweys.
October 1, 2007... Archive and Bibliotheken in Babylon: Die Tontafeln der Grabung Robert Koldeweys 1899-1917. By OLOF PEDERSEN. Abhadlungen der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, vol. 25. Berlin: SAARLAN-DISCHE DRUCKEREI UND VERLAG, 2005. Pp. xviii + 348, illus....

Lexikon des Hellenismus.
October 1, 2007... Lexikon des Hellenismus. Edited by HATTO H. SCHMEITT and Ernst VOGT. Wiesbaden: HARRASSOWITZ VERLAG, 2005 Pp xii + 1232, illus[euro]99. This latest iteration of the popular reference works on the Hellenistic age Produced by Schmitt and Vogt...

Modern Iraqi Arabic, With MP 3 Files.
October 1, 2007... Modern Iraqi Arabic, With MP 3 Files: A Textbook, 2nd edition. By YASIN M. ALKALESI Washington D. C GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2006 Pp. xi + 344. $49.95 (PAPER). This is the second edition, with new MP 3 files, or a traditional (read:...

Books received.
October 1, 2007... I. Ancient Near East ADIEGO, IGNACIO J. The Carian Language. Handbook of Oriental Studies, vol. 1/86- Leiden: Brill, 2007. Pp. xiii + 518, plates. $236. AMIDON, PHILIP R., S.J., tr. Philostorgius: Church History. Writings from the...