Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE

Proceedings of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Philadelphia, July 11–15, 2016

$129.95 $77.97

With contributions from both established and rising Assyriologists from ten countries and edited by three leading scholars of Assyriology, this volume presents thirty-two essays based on papers delivered at the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale held in Philadelphia in 2016. Reflecting on the theme “Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE,” the chapters deal with archaeological, artistic, cultural, economic, historical, and textual matters connected to the ancient city of Ur.

Why Should Someone Who Knows Something Conceal It?

Cuneiform Studies in Honor of David I. Owen on His 70th Birthday

$60.00 $36.00

Twenty essays on the history, culture, and literature of Ancient Mesopotamia, the land of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, from ca. 300–400 BC. Essays include analysis of previously unpublished legal and administrative documents, the waging of war, aromatic and date production, newly found royal inscriptions, the treatment of orphans, and more.

Wisdom of Ancient Sumer

$70.00 $42.00

Discussion of the nature of Sumerian wisdom literature and complete editions of many Sumerian wisdom texts, including the Instructions of Shuruppak, Instructions of Ur-Ninurta, Counsels of Wisdom, Sumerian fables, Nothing Is of Value, Ballade of Early Rulers, and more. This unusual book describes the Sumerian literature and many of their proverbs featured in speeches of wise men of that time.

Etymological Dictionary of the Sumerian Language

$149.95 $89.97

After many unsuccessful attempts to establish its linguistic affinity, Sumerian is widely considered a language isolate without any known relatives. However, a systematic comparison of its vocabulary and morphology with all the major Eurasiatic language families establishes beyond doubt that Sumerian belongs to the Uralic language family and is distantly related also to many other languages currently spoken in Europe, Western Asia and North Africa.

Age of Empires

The History and Administration of Judah in the 8th–2nd Centuries BCE in Light of the Storage-Jar Stamp Impressions

Oded Lipschits

This is the first attempt to consider the phenomenon stamped storage jars a whole and to develop a unified theory that would explain the function of these stamp impressions and shed new light on the history of Judah during six centuries of subjugation to the empires that ruled the region—as a vassal kingdom in the age of the Assyrian, Egyptian, and Babylonian empires and as a province under successive Babylonian, Persian, Ptolemaic, and Seleucid rule.

Cuneiform Texts from the Folios of W. G. Lambert, Part Two

Prepared for publication and edited by A. R. George and Junko Taniguchi

This book publishes 323 handcopies of cuneiform tablets found in the academic papers of W. G. Lambert (1926–2011), one of the foremost Assyriologists of the twentieth century. Prepared by A. R. George and Junko Taniguchi, it completes a two-part edition of Lambert’s previously unpublished handcopies.

The Road Taken

An Archaeologist’s Journey to the Land of the Bible

Seymour (Sy) Gitin

In press!
“Sy Gitin reinvented American archaeology in the Middle East. A uniquely talented raconteur, scholar, and Mensch, he transformed the sleepy American archaeological school in Jerusalem into an engine propelling meaningful collaboration across daunting divides. Here’s the account—filled with remarkable scientific, political, diplomatic, and above all human surprises, and not a few great stories—of a pioneer in scholarship without borders. The result is a manual for thinking about any historical field from the actual ground up.”—Baruch Halpern, author of The First Historians: The Hebrew Bible and History

As Above, So Below

Religion and Geography

Edited by Gina Konstantopoulos and Shana Zaia

In press!
This volume addresses the nexus of religion and geography in the ancient Near East through case studies of various time periods and regions. Using Sumerian, Akkadian, and Aramaic text corpora, iconography, and archaeological evidence, the contributors illuminate the diverse phenomena that occur when religion is viewed through the lenses of space and place.

2022 Penn State University Press Journals pricing and ordering information is available through the Scholarly Publishing Collective! Click here for more details.

Bulletin for Biblical Research, a quarterly journal, recently published their second issue of Volume 31.

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Rhetoric and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Purity, Covenant, and Strategy at Qumran

Bruce McComiskey

“Bruce McComiskey is the first in rhetorical studies to conduct a systematic reading of seven Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts. . . . In doing so, he makes an important case for the rhetorical significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the methodological utility of a hermeneutics/rhetoric approach for reading these texts”—Jim Ridolfo, author of Digital Samaritans: Rhetorical Delivery and Engagement in the Digital Humanities

How Sherlock Pulled the Trick

Spiritualism and the Pseudoscientific Method

Brian McCuskey

“A detailed and insightful exposition of a powerful and compelling literary figure. We know Holmes is central to a late-Victorian worldview, and How Sherlock Pulled the Trick demonstrates how he is also significant today.”—Catherine Wynne, author of Lady Butler: War Artist and Traveller, 1846–1933