August 2007 Archives
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August 31, 2007
Playing Around With Akkadian, Sumerian and Egyptian
There is a new toy on the internet. It purports to translate English into Assyrian/Babylonian, Sumerian, or Egyptian. It's kind of fun but it is not a translator. It is a word looker upper. And even at that, it often...Read all of "Playing Around With Akkadian, Sumerian and Egyptian"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:08 PM
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August 29, 2007
Getting Ready
While working with the roustabouts to prepare the vacant lot for Biblical Studies Carnival XXI, I found this at a site aptly called Carnival and Circus Jokes. I thought it might help you get in the spirit. A carnival truck...
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:03 PM
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August 28, 2007
Peer Review and Blogging - Discussing and Being Discussed
A considerable amount of academic blogging involves discussion of the peer-reviewed work of others. Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting is sponsoring an Icon Contest. Here's what they say about it, Contest participants will design a universal icon that everyone can...Read all of "Peer Review and Blogging - Discussing and Being Discussed"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:31 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
August 27, 2007
Mitchell Dahood and the Ras Shamra Parallel Project
In a recent post, John Hobbins mentioned that he was a student of Mitchell Dahood. In the same post, he also mentioned the usefulness of Logos Software’s Ugaritic Library. Among the works in The Ugaitic Library are three volumes called,...Read all of "Mitchell Dahood and the Ras Shamra Parallel Project"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:23 PM
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August 26, 2007
There's a Carnival Coming and It's Less Than Week Away
This coming Saturday Biblical Studies Carnival XXI opens right here at Abnormal Interests. I still need your help. If you know of a recent academically oriented post on the Hebrew Bible, the Christian New Testament or related literatures, languages or...Read all of "There's a Carnival Coming and It's Less Than Week Away"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:30 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
August 25, 2007
Ba'al the Thunderer?
John Hobbins has apparently ran out of Ancient Hebrew Poetry and has taken up ancient Ugaritic Poetry. He has a great post on prosody of Ugaritic poetry where he takes up part of KTU 1.10 as an example. Reflecting on...Read all of "Ba'al the Thunderer?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:26 PM
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August 23, 2007
A Novel Approach to Ugarit
Jim Davila has the story at PaleoJudaica. Of course, Jim is correct that the cuneiform alphabet used to write Ugaritic is not the "most direct antecedent of our own phonetic alphabet." It's not even an antecedent of our "phonetic alphabet"...Read all of "A Novel Approach to Ugarit"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:20 PM
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August 21, 2007
Prof. Nadia Abu El Haj and Related Issues I Don't Know Much About
The other day a reader sent me an email asking me to "weigh in on the controversy surrounding a book by Nadia Abu El Haj." The book is Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society....Read all of "Prof. Nadia Abu El Haj and Related Issues I Don't Know Much About"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:27 AM
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August 20, 2007
A Structure for the Ages
After the work of translating the Ugaritic veterinary text KTU 1.85, I thought I'd tackle one of the easier but more important topics of interpretation; the structure of the text and its relationship to omens, wisdom literature, law codes and...Read all of "A Structure for the Ages"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:17 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
August 19, 2007
Why I Am Not Rich
I married into a family that did a bad job managing their assets. That's why. One of the patriarchs of that family, Henry Pletcher, had property. According to one source, this property was what remained of a 400 acre parcel...Read all of "Why I Am Not Rich"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:47 AM
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August 18, 2007
It's a Dog According to the Talmud
Apropos of yesterday's post, here is what the Talmud says about urinating on a wall, AND URINE MUST BE REMOVED THREE HANDBREADTHS etc. Rabbah b. Bar Hana said: It is permissible for a man to make water on the side...Read all of "It's a Dog According to the Talmud"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:41 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
August 17, 2007
What do Dogs, Boys, Adult Men and Polluters Have in Common?
They all, from time to time, piss against a wall. The other day I suggested that the Hebrew phrase מַשְׁתִּין בְּקִיר, "pisser against a wall," might best be understood in the context of urine divination as seen in the Assyrian...Read all of "What do Dogs, Boys, Adult Men and Polluters Have in Common?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:37 PM
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August 16, 2007
Imprecatory Prayer - Oh Dear God, Please Let Them Die!
Wiley S. Drake, a Buena Park pastor and a former national leader of the Southern Baptist Convention, called on his followers to pray for the deaths of two leaders of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. [Los Angeles...Read all of "Imprecatory Prayer - Oh Dear God, Please Let Them Die!"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:56 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
August 15, 2007
A Carnival Is Coming This Way
I will be hosting Biblical Studies Carnival XXI the first of September. I need your help now. Please submit your favorite posts for inclusion in the Carnival. Remember: Posts must represent an academic approach to the discipline of biblical studies...Read all of "A Carnival Is Coming This Way "
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:52 AM
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August 13, 2007
"I Think We Got It Right"
If you are only going to watch one film clip in the next few days, watch this one from April, 1994. I have just one small question, "Why didn't the media show this over and over in early 2003? Via,...Read all of ""I Think We Got It Right""
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:28 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
August 12, 2007
Putting It All Together, The Ugaritic Veterinary Text That Is
I thank those daring few of you who subjected yourselves to the many gory details of the Ugaritic veterinary text KTU 1.85 over the last couple of weeks. I understand those more timid souls who politely skipped the detailed posts....Read all of "Putting It All Together, The Ugaritic Veterinary Text That Is"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:53 PM | TrackBack (1) | Abnormal Archive Link |
August 11, 2007
A Scratching Horse with Mange (Maybe)
Finally, I turn to the last section of the Ugaritic veterinary text KTU 1.85. As with the section discussed the other day, there are major problems with the text of this section. But these problems are, on the surface, quite...Read all of "A Scratching Horse with Mange (Maybe)"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:08 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
August 10, 2007
The Ileret Skulls
I haven't written on paleoanthropology for a while. I've been too tightly focused on things that I am finally beginning to know something about again. But a recent paper is getting so much attention that I cannot just ignore it....Read all of "The Ileret Skulls"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:37 AM
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August 8, 2007
A Restored Text to Restore a Horse
After a short interlude to deal with a couple of other matters, I'm back to the most difficult two sections section of the Ugaritic veterinary text (KTU 1.85:23-29). The first five lines of this next section are so badly broken...Read all of "A Restored Text to Restore a Horse"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:24 PM
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August 7, 2007
Denying Little While Affirming Much
Claude Mariottini is again worrying about atheists and the Bible. This time he is responding to Chris Hallquist of The Uncredible Hallq. I don't want to reenter this discussion in all its complexity. I've said my piece and within what...Read all of "Denying Little While Affirming Much"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:19 PM
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August 6, 2007
An Echo of Divination in Biblical Hebrew
Many causal readers of the books of the Hebrew Bible can cite examples of divination within those diverse works. Even though Leviticus 19:26 and other passages appear to explicitly forbidden divination, the techniques of the diviner where still known and...Read all of "An Echo of Divination in Biblical Hebrew"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:35 PM
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August 5, 2007
The Land of the Watched and the Home of the Cowards
It was inevitable. The President got most of his way with the revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Political cowards joined those whose political agenda is to roll back the clock on everything, including liberty. If there is any good news...Read all of "The Land of the Watched and the Home of the Cowards"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:36 AM
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August 4, 2007
One Big Statue of Hadrian
I don't normally post on artifacts from this side of the Iron Age but I found this story abnormally interesting. That's Hadrian. Well, it's really Hadrian's head. Well, not really Hadrian's head but the head from a colossal statue of...Read all of "One Big Statue of Hadrian"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:21 PM
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August 3, 2007
A Broken Text for a Broken Horse
Continuing with the veterinary text, KTU 1.85, the next section, lines 20-22, is mostly unreadable because here the tablet is badly broken. Only a few letters in lines 21 and 22 are readable and the first word and perhaps more...Read all of "A Broken Text for a Broken Horse"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:42 AM
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August 1, 2007
Four Stone Hearth 20 Is Up
Four Stone Hearth is up at afarensis. afarensis has done a great job bring together some extremely interesting reading. And again, by some fluke, one of my posts was included. Did afarensis pick one of my posts on ancient horse...Read all of "Four Stone Hearth 20 Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:24 PM
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Back With My Sick Horse
Below is the next section of KTU 1.85, the veterinary text I've been playing with. My translation and notes reflect the "new interpretation" that I referred to in a previous post. If you are wondering where to find this "new...Read all of "Back With My Sick Horse"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:04 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
Biblical Studies Carnival XX Is Up
Biblical Studies Carnival XX is up at Claude Mariottini's place. Claude has done a good job pulling things together for this month's Carnival. I am particularly happy to see that Claude linked to a post by Christopher O'Brien of Northstate...Read all of "Biblical Studies Carnival XX Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:49 AM
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