The University of Arizona Library is hosting a lecture series this semester on writing in the ancient world. The first lecture was yesterday, but four more lectures are slated.  From the website:

Lecture I – October 1, Thursday, 3:00 p.m.

Ancient Near Eastern Literacy and Libraries: Their Significance for the Scholarly Tradition of the ‘West’
Anne Kilmer, in conjunction with the Archaeological Institute of America, Tucson Chapter

Lecture II – October 19, Monday, 3:00 p.m.

Speaker Panel:


From Ancient Mesopotamia to Modern Arizona: The First Writing, Indiana Jones and the Arizona State Museum Basement’s Mystery
Ewa Wasilewska, Associate Professor/Lecturer, Department of Anthropology and the Middle East Center, University of Utah


The Origins of the Alphabet: From Proto-Sinaitic to Greek
Ronald S. Hendel, The Norma and Sam Dabby Professor of Hebrew Bible and Jewish Studies, University of California, Berkeley


Egyptian Hieroglyphs: Writing with Pictures and Painting with Words
Richard H. Wilkinson, Regents’ Professor of Egyptian Archaeology, School of Anthropology, Department of Classics and Department of Near Eastern Studies, The University of Arizona

Lecture III – October 29, Thursday, 4:00 p.m.

Archaeological Preservation Efforts and Agonies in Northern Iraq, 2006
Jesse Ballenger, Ph.D. Candidate and Haury Fellow, Department of Anthropology, The University of Arizona, in conjunction with the Archaeological Institute of America, Tucson Chapter.

Lecture IV – November 5, Thursday, 4:00 p.m.

Life and Death on the Estate of a Princess in 21st Century BCE Mesopotamia
David Owen, The Bernard and Jane Schapiro Professor of Ancient Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Curator of Tablet Collections, The Jonathan and Jeannette Rosen Ancient Near Eastern Studies Seminar, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University, in conjunction with the Archaeological Institute of America, Tucson Chapter.

Lecture V – November 9, Monday, 7:00 p.m.

Lecture location: Tucson Jewish Community Center, 3800 E River Rd.


The Art of Writing in Ancient Israel
William Schniedewind, Professor of Biblical Studies and Kershaw Chair of Ancient Eastern Mediterranean Studies, University of California, Los Angeles. Lecture presented as part of the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies Shaol Pozez Memorial Lectureship Series.

The Biblical Archaeology Society is sponsoring the 12th Annual Bible and Archaeology Fest in New Orleans from November 20 to 22.  A full schedule is not yet out, but a preliminary posting of speakers and lecture titles is now available at the BAS website.  The line-up is outstanding, and I’m planning on attending.  Below are the lectures that look most interesting to me.


Anson Rainey, Tel Aviv University: Whence Came the Israelites and Their Language?


Aren Maeir, Bar Ilan University: Fleshing out the Bible at Philistine Gath: The Interface of Bible and Archaeology


Avraham Faust, Bar Ilan University: The Assyrian Peace: A Reexamination


Dan Schowalter, Carthage College: Architecture and Power: Excavations of a Roman Temple Site at Omrit in Northern Israel


James Charlesworth, Princeton Theological Seminary: Should the Gospel of John be Used in Jesus Research?


James Tabor, University of North Carolina at Charlotte: Media Hype, Academic Squabbles, and the James Ossuary: Getting the Facts Straight


Jim Hoffmeier, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School: Exploring David’s Strange Antics after Defeating Goliath


Leonard Greenspoon, Creighton University: Ten Common Misconceptions about Bible Translation: How I Learned to Live with—and even Love—Modern Versions of the Bible


Mark Wilson, Asia Minor Research Center: In the Footsteps of Paul in Asia Minor: Are there Still Roman Roads to Follow?


Steve Mason, York University: The Historical Problem of the Essenes


Sean Freyne, Trinity College, Dublin: The Archaeology of Roman Galilee: What we have and have not learned about Jesus the Galilean


Yosef Garfinkel, Hebrew University: *Plenary Session Speaker*: Khirbet Qeiyafa: Not Shaaraim, but Ephes-dammim. 

Just kidding on that last title.  (If you don’t get it, you’ll have to slog through last year’s posts on the subject, especially here, here, and here.)  The true title is: Khirbet Qeiyafa: A Fortified City in Judah from the Time of King David.

Video from the Plenary Session of the Fifteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies (August 2-6, 2009) is now online.  The session was entitled, “Israel, Aram and Assyria: Between Bible and Archaeology,” but as moderator Mordechai Cogan notes at the beginning, the papers are more about Aram and Israel (not Assyria), especially in the 9th century BC.  Each presentation is in English and is 30 minutes long.

Tallay Ornan, Northern Inspiration: Aramean and Neo-Hittite Finds in Ninth–Eighth Century BCE Israel

Aren Maeir, Hazael in Southern Israel: The Campaign to Philistia and the Conquest of Philistine Gath

Amihai Mazar, Israel, the Arameans and Assyria: A View from Tel Beth-Shean and Tel Rehov

Doron Ben Ami and Nili Wazana, Enemy at the Gates: The Phenomenon of Fortifications in Israel and Judea Reexamined

HT: Aren Maeir

Aren Maeir is lecturing several times this week in Texas:

Tues, 4/21 evening: Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Wed, 4/22 noon: Baylor University

Thurs, 4/23 7pm: Houston Graduate School of Theology

For more details, contact the institutions.