My interests include history and religion in the ancient Near East, especially the the Bronze and Iron Ages; lives of women in antiquity; women working in archaeology Phone: (520) 626-5762 Address: Arizona Center for Judaic Studies The University of Arizona 845 N. Park Ave., Marshall 420 Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
Ed., Shawna Dolansky ABSTRACT: This essay explores the problem of infanticide and more specifical... more Ed., Shawna Dolansky ABSTRACT: This essay explores the problem of infanticide and more specifically, of female infanticide, the murder of newborn girls, in Iron Age Israel and Judah (1000–587 b.c.e.). It begins with a general consideration of infanticide and, more specifically, of female infanticide. Next, it examines the biblical legitimization of violence against women and children. Then, it turns to the problem of child sacrifice in Israel and Judah. Finally, it explores the unfortunate occurrence of female infanticide in Israel and Judah.
This article1 investigates the roles played by women within the religion of Iron Age II Israel (1... more This article1 investigates the roles played by women within the religion of Iron Age II Israel (1000–587 bce). That little is presently known about this important topic can be attributed to the androcentric perspective of the Hebrew Bible and to gender bias within the modern academy. Recent scholarship has begun to turn the tide, and this article shows the many ways in which women contributed to – and were an integral part of – the religion of ancient Israel.
Hosts: IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona: http://www.ub.edu/ipoa/Index_eng.html / Centre of Excellen... more Hosts: IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona: http://www.ub.edu/ipoa/Index_eng.html / Centre of Excellence “Sacred Texts in Change” in the University of Helsinki: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/sacredtexts/ Conference venue: Universitat de Barcelona – Edifici Josep Carner (access through Aribau street, number 2), room 0.1 (ground floor). Nearest metro station: Universitat (lines 1 and 2). Organizers: Agnès Garcia‐Ventura (IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona) / Saana Svärd (University of Helsinki) Thanks for financial support to: Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence “Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions” Facultat de Filologia de la Universitat de Barcelona Màster de Cultures i Llengües de l’Antiguitat With the collaboration of:
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2009
The Jezebel Letters: Religion and Politics in Ninth-Century Israel, by Eleanor Ferris Beach. Minn... more The Jezebel Letters: Religion and Politics in Ninth-Century Israel, by Eleanor Ferris Beach. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005. 220 pp. $19.00. Eleanor Ferris Beach's new book about Jezebel, the ninth-century BCE Israelite queen, contributes to the growing body of research into the roles women fulfilled in ancient Israelite society. Beach, who teaches biblical studies at St. Ambrose University, received her doctorate from Claremont Graduate University and has worked on several archaeological projects. That she writes in a popular style, creating a fictitious archive of personal correspondence, detracts from the book's scholarly value-but makes it accessible to the non-specialist. So, too, does the author's website, with its FAQ's and Study Aid questions designed with the non-academic reader in mind. Beach presents Jezebel as a creative social and political force in ninth-century Israel, who used her intelligence and ingenuity to improve the lives of Israelites, Phoenicians, and Judaeans alike. The Jezebel Letters addresses several issues pertinent to the reconstruction of ninth-century Israel and its neighbors. Most important is the role of women, and here Beach counters traditional ideas about ancient women as passive and powerless. Foregrounding Jezebel, Beach explores the position of the royal woman and presents an interesting, if controversial, reconstruction of the ways in which she functioned within the king's court. According to the Bible, Jezebel was a villain infamous for subverting justice, perverting religion, corrupting Israel's king Ahab (her husband), and conrributing to the downfall of the Dynasty of Omri (her father in-law). Beach takes an alternate perspective, writing that"[t]he destiny of kings is shaped as much by strategies in the women's quarters as by tactics on the battlefield" (p. 139). Utilizing research by Susan Ackerman and others, which explores the role of gevira or queen mother in Israel and Judah, she has the protagonist capitalize upon familial connections with Phoenicia (as the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre) and Judah (as the mother of Atalyah, who married a Judaean king and then ruled independently for a brief period of time). Whether the ancient gevira exerted as much authority as does Beach's Jezebel is uncertain. Where Beach depicts the gevira as kingmaker, the Bible emphasizes the role of the prophet. Other aspects of The Jezebel Letters are intriguing, as well. Highlighting Israel and Judah's separate trajectories, it places them within the political configuration of the ninth-century Levant and emphasizes their many complex interactions. Indeed, the contextualization of the many small city-states and nations of the region, interacting with each other and reacting to the growing Assyrian menace, is one of the strengths of this book. Beach's reconstruction of Jezebel as a mediator among rulers from three nations is speculative, but the complexity of international affairs that this reconstructed role underscores is authentic. Similarly intriguing is the fact that The Jezebel Letters privileges Israel over the biblically favored Judah. The Bible speaks with the voice of Judaeans, Jerusalemites, Davidic loyalists, and Temple priests. Here, though, the story is presented from the perspective of the northern nation, its capital Samaria, its kings non-Davidic, its religion not Temple-based. Beach goes further, portraying Jezebel as the protector of not only her own Tyrian and Israelite royal families, but also of the Jerusalemite House of David. The Jezebel Letters effectively evokes a sense of time and place. Its epistolary device allows the author to present details of daily life that are often neglected in traditional histories. Particularly effective is Beach's evocation of the natural setting in which Israelites and their neighbors lived, and the ways in which those varied ecological niches supported varied subsistence communities. …
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 1998
not internal factors. It is evident that part of the problem is Lawson's lack of objective sc... more not internal factors. It is evident that part of the problem is Lawson's lack of objective scales for measuring internal crisis and external initiative. Lawson is forced to twist the data because of his single-minded insistence on proving that Syrian foreign policy decisions respond exclusively to internal threats while external ones are purely manufactured or manipulated. A more sophisticated analysis would show how leaders try to balance between internal and external crises and would acknowledge that where a regime is relatively consolidated at home while facing severe external conflict, foreign policy may actually be driven by foreign affairs. Readers would do better to consult the classic works on Syrian foreign policy, Patrick Seale's Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East (University of California Press, 1988) and Moshe Maoz's Asad: The Sphinx ofDamascus (Grove Weidenfeld, 1988). Raymond A. Hinnebusch Department of International Relations University of St. Andrews
Over the course of its two centuries, the Iron I landscape of the southern Levant witnessed the f... more Over the course of its two centuries, the Iron I landscape of the southern Levant witnessed the formation of the social, economic, and political foundations of the familiar constellation of Iron Age states. From Israel to Edom, all emerge from this era's fascinating amalgam of regional variations, disparate population groups, and alternate economies. The story of this momentous period includes the biblical story of the transition from the city-states of Canaan to the United Monarchy of Israel. The story of the Iron I is also the story of the emergence of distinct groups on the borders of what would become Israel and Judah. Moreover, alongside the national trajectories of Ammon, Moab, and Edom, the Philistines and the Phoenicians carry forward the Bronze Age city-state mode of organization. The extraordinary events at the end of the Late Bronze Age-huge population movements, military disasters, the general demise of the city-state system, and the destabilization of Egypt's empire in south Canaan-shaped the Iron I as a period of regionally-based accommodation rather than of widespread conformity. The absence of great international markets forced most settlements to concentrate on achieving self-sufficiency, combining small-scale agriculture with animal husbandry. Archaeological survey and excavation have shown that a major element in this transition was the establishment of hundreds of small villages, renewing a landscape that had been but sparsely inhabited in the LBA. The origin of these settlers remains a vexed question, and, in particular, there is no easy reconstruction of the Israelite conquest and settlement based on combined archaeological and biblical evidence. The salient features of Iron I material culture demonstrate continuity from the LBA. Were it not for the Bible, no late thirteenth-early twelfth century Israelite invasion would be suspected. The complex archaeological and textual evidence of Iron I settlement demands a more nuanced approach than can be offered by any single model.
The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess. By Judith M. Hadl... more The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess. By Judith M. Hadley. University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, vol. 57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp. xv + 262. $64.95. The Mother Goddess of Ugaritic mythology (ªAtiratu) ...
Ed., Shawna Dolansky ABSTRACT: This essay explores the problem of infanticide and more specifical... more Ed., Shawna Dolansky ABSTRACT: This essay explores the problem of infanticide and more specifically, of female infanticide, the murder of newborn girls, in Iron Age Israel and Judah (1000–587 b.c.e.). It begins with a general consideration of infanticide and, more specifically, of female infanticide. Next, it examines the biblical legitimization of violence against women and children. Then, it turns to the problem of child sacrifice in Israel and Judah. Finally, it explores the unfortunate occurrence of female infanticide in Israel and Judah.
This article1 investigates the roles played by women within the religion of Iron Age II Israel (1... more This article1 investigates the roles played by women within the religion of Iron Age II Israel (1000–587 bce). That little is presently known about this important topic can be attributed to the androcentric perspective of the Hebrew Bible and to gender bias within the modern academy. Recent scholarship has begun to turn the tide, and this article shows the many ways in which women contributed to – and were an integral part of – the religion of ancient Israel.
Hosts: IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona: http://www.ub.edu/ipoa/Index_eng.html / Centre of Excellen... more Hosts: IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona: http://www.ub.edu/ipoa/Index_eng.html / Centre of Excellence “Sacred Texts in Change” in the University of Helsinki: http://blogs.helsinki.fi/sacredtexts/ Conference venue: Universitat de Barcelona – Edifici Josep Carner (access through Aribau street, number 2), room 0.1 (ground floor). Nearest metro station: Universitat (lines 1 and 2). Organizers: Agnès Garcia‐Ventura (IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona) / Saana Svärd (University of Helsinki) Thanks for financial support to: Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence “Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions” Facultat de Filologia de la Universitat de Barcelona Màster de Cultures i Llengües de l’Antiguitat With the collaboration of:
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2009
The Jezebel Letters: Religion and Politics in Ninth-Century Israel, by Eleanor Ferris Beach. Minn... more The Jezebel Letters: Religion and Politics in Ninth-Century Israel, by Eleanor Ferris Beach. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2005. 220 pp. $19.00. Eleanor Ferris Beach's new book about Jezebel, the ninth-century BCE Israelite queen, contributes to the growing body of research into the roles women fulfilled in ancient Israelite society. Beach, who teaches biblical studies at St. Ambrose University, received her doctorate from Claremont Graduate University and has worked on several archaeological projects. That she writes in a popular style, creating a fictitious archive of personal correspondence, detracts from the book's scholarly value-but makes it accessible to the non-specialist. So, too, does the author's website, with its FAQ's and Study Aid questions designed with the non-academic reader in mind. Beach presents Jezebel as a creative social and political force in ninth-century Israel, who used her intelligence and ingenuity to improve the lives of Israelites, Phoenicians, and Judaeans alike. The Jezebel Letters addresses several issues pertinent to the reconstruction of ninth-century Israel and its neighbors. Most important is the role of women, and here Beach counters traditional ideas about ancient women as passive and powerless. Foregrounding Jezebel, Beach explores the position of the royal woman and presents an interesting, if controversial, reconstruction of the ways in which she functioned within the king's court. According to the Bible, Jezebel was a villain infamous for subverting justice, perverting religion, corrupting Israel's king Ahab (her husband), and conrributing to the downfall of the Dynasty of Omri (her father in-law). Beach takes an alternate perspective, writing that"[t]he destiny of kings is shaped as much by strategies in the women's quarters as by tactics on the battlefield" (p. 139). Utilizing research by Susan Ackerman and others, which explores the role of gevira or queen mother in Israel and Judah, she has the protagonist capitalize upon familial connections with Phoenicia (as the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre) and Judah (as the mother of Atalyah, who married a Judaean king and then ruled independently for a brief period of time). Whether the ancient gevira exerted as much authority as does Beach's Jezebel is uncertain. Where Beach depicts the gevira as kingmaker, the Bible emphasizes the role of the prophet. Other aspects of The Jezebel Letters are intriguing, as well. Highlighting Israel and Judah's separate trajectories, it places them within the political configuration of the ninth-century Levant and emphasizes their many complex interactions. Indeed, the contextualization of the many small city-states and nations of the region, interacting with each other and reacting to the growing Assyrian menace, is one of the strengths of this book. Beach's reconstruction of Jezebel as a mediator among rulers from three nations is speculative, but the complexity of international affairs that this reconstructed role underscores is authentic. Similarly intriguing is the fact that The Jezebel Letters privileges Israel over the biblically favored Judah. The Bible speaks with the voice of Judaeans, Jerusalemites, Davidic loyalists, and Temple priests. Here, though, the story is presented from the perspective of the northern nation, its capital Samaria, its kings non-Davidic, its religion not Temple-based. Beach goes further, portraying Jezebel as the protector of not only her own Tyrian and Israelite royal families, but also of the Jerusalemite House of David. The Jezebel Letters effectively evokes a sense of time and place. Its epistolary device allows the author to present details of daily life that are often neglected in traditional histories. Particularly effective is Beach's evocation of the natural setting in which Israelites and their neighbors lived, and the ways in which those varied ecological niches supported varied subsistence communities. …
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 1998
not internal factors. It is evident that part of the problem is Lawson's lack of objective sc... more not internal factors. It is evident that part of the problem is Lawson's lack of objective scales for measuring internal crisis and external initiative. Lawson is forced to twist the data because of his single-minded insistence on proving that Syrian foreign policy decisions respond exclusively to internal threats while external ones are purely manufactured or manipulated. A more sophisticated analysis would show how leaders try to balance between internal and external crises and would acknowledge that where a regime is relatively consolidated at home while facing severe external conflict, foreign policy may actually be driven by foreign affairs. Readers would do better to consult the classic works on Syrian foreign policy, Patrick Seale's Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East (University of California Press, 1988) and Moshe Maoz's Asad: The Sphinx ofDamascus (Grove Weidenfeld, 1988). Raymond A. Hinnebusch Department of International Relations University of St. Andrews
Over the course of its two centuries, the Iron I landscape of the southern Levant witnessed the f... more Over the course of its two centuries, the Iron I landscape of the southern Levant witnessed the formation of the social, economic, and political foundations of the familiar constellation of Iron Age states. From Israel to Edom, all emerge from this era's fascinating amalgam of regional variations, disparate population groups, and alternate economies. The story of this momentous period includes the biblical story of the transition from the city-states of Canaan to the United Monarchy of Israel. The story of the Iron I is also the story of the emergence of distinct groups on the borders of what would become Israel and Judah. Moreover, alongside the national trajectories of Ammon, Moab, and Edom, the Philistines and the Phoenicians carry forward the Bronze Age city-state mode of organization. The extraordinary events at the end of the Late Bronze Age-huge population movements, military disasters, the general demise of the city-state system, and the destabilization of Egypt's empire in south Canaan-shaped the Iron I as a period of regionally-based accommodation rather than of widespread conformity. The absence of great international markets forced most settlements to concentrate on achieving self-sufficiency, combining small-scale agriculture with animal husbandry. Archaeological survey and excavation have shown that a major element in this transition was the establishment of hundreds of small villages, renewing a landscape that had been but sparsely inhabited in the LBA. The origin of these settlers remains a vexed question, and, in particular, there is no easy reconstruction of the Israelite conquest and settlement based on combined archaeological and biblical evidence. The salient features of Iron I material culture demonstrate continuity from the LBA. Were it not for the Bible, no late thirteenth-early twelfth century Israelite invasion would be suspected. The complex archaeological and textual evidence of Iron I settlement demands a more nuanced approach than can be offered by any single model.
The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess. By Judith M. Hadl... more The Cult of Asherah in Ancient Israel and Judah: Evidence for a Hebrew Goddess. By Judith M. Hadley. University of Cambridge Oriental Publications, vol. 57. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Pp. xv + 262. $64.95. The Mother Goddess of Ugaritic mythology (ªAtiratu) ...
While commemorative volumes in our field date back to the late-nineteenth century, their popul... more While commemorative volumes in our field date back to the late-nineteenth century, their popularity has grown exponentially in recent decades. The editors of festschrift and memorial volumes invite contributions to a body of scholarship that pays tribute to an esteemed colleague, and in doing so, they make a statement about their special relationship to the honoree, whether living or deceased. Those whom they invite to write for the volume become part of an exclusive coterie, which is enshrined in the book and made manifest to all who read it. Scholarly consideration of those who produce commemorative volumes and those who write for them is therefore a matter of professional significance. Given what is known about the field of Near Eastern archaeology, one might assume that honorees, editors, and contributors would be almost exclusively men, and indeed, this assumption is correct. This presentation explores the gendered nature of commemorative volumes. It looks, historically and in the present, at volumes that honor archaeologists working in various countries across the ancient Near East. It reveals that in no decade, including the present one, are women well represented among honorees, editors, or contributors, while noting some geographic regions and subject areas in which women are increasingly included. It considers the causes of both disparities and change – and concludes by reflecting upon their significance for our field.
In Pursuit of Visibility: Essays in Archaeology, Ethnography, and Text in Honor of Beth Alpert Nakhai, 2022
Fifteen diverse essays honour the distinguished career of Beth Alpert Nakhai, a scholar of Canaan... more Fifteen diverse essays honour the distinguished career of Beth Alpert Nakhai, a scholar of Canaan and ancient Israel; in this volume, Professor Nakhai's students and colleagues celebrate her important contributions to the field of Near Eastern Archaeology and tireless efforts to acknowledge and support women in the profession.
This book can be purchased, or downloaded at no charge through an open access agreement with Archaeopress.
The Mummy Under the Bed Essays on Gender and Methodology in the Ancient Near East, 2022
The present volume contains seventeen chapters devoted to various methodological approaches to ge... more The present volume contains seventeen chapters devoted to various methodological approaches to gender studies within the broad field of Ancient Near Eastern studies, including ancient history, archaeology, art history, Assyriology, Phoenician-Punic studies, and biblical studies. This collection is the result of presentations, exchanges, and discussions that took place during the third workshop on Gender, Methodology, and the Ancient Near East in Belgium from 8 to 10 April 2019 (GeMANE 3). Over the last several decades, gender studies has claimed its rightful place within Ancient Near Eastern studies. After the initial and sorely needed retrieval of women's lives utilizing textual and archaeological sources, new methodological and theoretical approaches to gender and sexuality now complement descriptive studies. Going forward, GeMANE remains fully committed to opening up all possibilities inherent within (post-) feminist, masculinist, structural, queer, and related theories. Also fundamental are innovative (digital) methodologies for historical, art historical, archaeological, and philological subjects within Ancient Near Eastern studies.
The Mummy Under the Bed: Essays on Gender and Methodology in the Ancient Near East, 2022
The present volume contains seventeen chapters devoted to various methodological approaches to ge... more The present volume contains seventeen chapters devoted to various methodological approaches to gender studies within the broad field of Ancient Near Eastern studies, including ancient history, archaeology, art history, Assyriology, Phoenician-Punic studies, and biblical studies. This collection is the result of presentations, exchanges, and discussions that took place during the third workshop on Gender, Methodology, and the Ancient Near East in Belgium from 8 to 10 April 2019 (GeMANE 3). Over the last several decades, gender studies has claimed its rightful place within Ancient Near Eastern studies. After the initial and sorely needed retrieval of women's lives utilizing textual and archaeological sources, new methodological and theoretical approaches to gender and sexuality now complement descriptive studies. Going forward, GeMANE remains fully committed to opening up all possibilities inherent within (post-) feminist, masculinist, structural, queer, and related theories. Also fundamental are innovative (digital) methodologies for historical, art historical, archaeological, and philological subjects within Ancient Near Eastern studies.
Editors: Katrien De Graef, Agnès Garcia-Ventura, Anne Goddeeris, Beth Alpert Nakhai. Münster: wEdge 1, Zaphon. ISBN 978-3-96327-088-8., 2022
The present volume contains seventeen chapters devoted to various methodological approaches to ge... more The present volume contains seventeen chapters devoted to various methodological approaches to gender studies within the broad field of Ancient Near Eastern studies, including ancient history, archaeology, art history, Assyriology, Phoenician-Punic studies, and biblical studies. This collection is the result of presentations, exchanges, and discussions that took place during the third workshop on Gender, Methodology, and the Ancient Near East in Belgium from 8 to 10 April 2019 (GeMANE 3).
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This presentation explores the gendered nature of commemorative volumes. It looks, historically and in the present, at volumes that honor archaeologists working in various countries across the ancient Near East. It reveals that in no decade, including the present one, are women well represented among honorees, editors, or contributors, while noting some geographic regions and subject areas in which women are increasingly included. It considers the causes of both disparities and change – and concludes by reflecting upon their significance for our field.
This book can be purchased, or downloaded at no charge through an open access agreement with Archaeopress.