This is a preliminary study of aspects of the spiritual development of Hindiyya ‘Ajaymi, a Syro-Lebanese religious woman who lived from 1727–98. Highlights include her mystical experiences as well as later compositions for her religious community.

Syriac tradition remembers sixth century Byzantine emperor Justinian I as the harsh persecutor of the faithful, while his wife Theodora is revered as the “believing queen”, champion and protectress of the dissenting non-Chalcedonian church.

Fourth-century Aphrahat is characterized as misogynist, especially when he compares women to Satan. This may be an unintended result of contemporary Christian literature. The the eschatological context of Aphrahat’s asceticism, salvific role of Mary, victimization in Aphrahat’s work, and positive statements about women negotiate this view.

A detailed description of the manuscript of Greek apologetics compiled by the 10th century bishop and scholar, Arethas of Caesarea (in Cappadocia).

An elaborate historical treatise on the fall of Nineveh and the writings of the prophet Nahum, this work is divided into three chapters. The first contains a translation of Nahum’s oracle against Nineveh with both historical and Assyriological commentaries. The second chapter is a history and description of the city of Nineveh from earliest times to its downfall. A brief but interesting discussion of the origin and development of the Medes as a people closes the second chapter. The final chapter is an archaeological and scientific military description of ancient Assyrian fortifications and a treatise on their use in the warfare of the period.

An early study of the Babylonian kudurru (boundary stone) inscriptions of what is now known as the Kassite Era, this booklet presents a self-contained exploration of two of the markers. Focusing on Kudurru Inscriptions III R. 43 and III R. 41, Belser gives transcriptions and translations of both texts. A detailed commentary follows the presentation of the actual texts, and this is accompanied by notes from the original drawings of the text. Carefully reproduced full text hand-drawn copies are also included.

This work contains inscriptions from the Ramesseum in Thebes and the tomb of Ptahhotep at Thebes, as well as the archaeological work of 1896 in Egypt.

This book examines which ornaments were actually in use in second year of King Edward VI, during the incessant changes of the English Reformation.

This document details the nineteenth-century controversy over the distribution of Bibles to the laity. This translation by a Low Church baronet includes an introduction addressed to ‘all members of the Church of Christ’, the original document in Latin, and translations in Italian and English.

Argument by the Norris Professor of Divinity at Cambridge that the spelling of the Syriac version of the Gospels should not be taken as authority for the original Aramaic names.

Textual analysis and source criticism of the printed texts of Augustine’s City of God.

Notes on Erwin Preuschen’s edition of Origen’s Commentary on the Gospel according to John.

A vivid glimpse of the early years of one of the prestigious American Schools for Oriental Research, when a dozen students traveled the Middle East each winter. This report documents some of the troubles they faced.

A summary of the difficulties of the conversion of Islam and a seven-point program to overcome them.

In keeping with the general format of nineteenth-century Assyriological publications, this study provides an abundance of information on the texts under consideration. Here, the correspondence between the famous Babylonian king Hammurabi and the governor of Larsa, Sin-Idinnam, is examined in detail. Nagel also includes commentary, beginning with grammatical and syntactical issues. Next he turns to lexical issues, beginning with individual words, compound words, and ideograms. Friedrich Delitzsch also adds further remarks to Nagel’s adequate analysis of these historically significant texts.

As a scholar of the languages of early Christianity, including Ethiopic and Syriac, Johannes Flemming felt a debt to the learned scholar of the seventeenth century, Job Leutholf (also Hiob Ludolf). Still cited as one of the essential pieces of Leutholf’s biography, this article is required reading for those interested in the life of this remarkable scholar. After sketching an outline of Leutholf’s life, Flemming then moves on to focus on his Ethiopic studies. Flemming concludes his articles with the correspondence between Leutholf and the abbot Gregorius who initially taught him the Ethiopic language.

The “Nestorian Monument” or “Nestorian Stele” is a fascinating attestation of the work of Syriac-speaking missionaries in sixth-century China. Commemorating the diffusion of Christianity in China from 635-781, the inscription was erected in the latter year as a public monument. The inscription in Chinese, supplemented with some Syriac, provides a brief outline of Christian doctrine and provides an account of how Christianity came to China. This book offers an English translation of the monument along with the original language text.

This essay on the history of how the Hebrew Bible was considered during the Reformation period takes the reader into areas largely unexplored. In addition to the Bible, the Kabala is brought into the discussion. Box traces the development up to the advent of the critical study of the Bible which continued to be controversial when his study was published.

The life, sayings, and character of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, founder of the Ahmadi movement, which were written during his lifetime in Urdu by a close follower are documented here.

Approaching the question of Purim historically, Haupt notes that the book of Esther was composed during the reign of Judas Maccabeus, and he correlates the festival to the Babylonian New Year. He discusses the origin of the title “purim” from various languages, ultimately deciding on the Old Persian explanation. Moving forward, Haupt brings the festival into the more modern period, showing how the ancient tradition continues to exist. A useful resource for anyone interested in turn-of-the-century thought on the origins of an enigmatic biblical festival, this contribution is both readable to the layperson and scholarly as well.

In this brief study, Jeremias examines the representations of life after death in the Babylonian and Assyrian sources. The descent of Ishtar, basic concepts of the grave, descriptions of the afterlife and the realm of the blessed are all examined. The possibility of return from death and the biblical outlook on the subject are also part of the exploration.

A renowned linguist, Franz Praetorius explored several ancient languages in his career. This work concerns his observations of the grammar and various etymologies of Ethiopic. He accomplishes this by discussing 57 lexemes worthy of note and also considering nominal forms with prefixed t and the imperfect preformative with a. These acute observations by a scholar with such finesse are not easily ignored.

This fragment of the Babylonian Etana legend was first published in this brief paper by Morris Jastrow. The fragment is presented here in transliteration and translation along with the able textual commentary of an acknowledged leader among philologists. Following the presentation of the text, Jastrow also offers an interpretation of the text, suggesting where within the Etana legend the fragment fits. Line drawings and photographs of this singular fragment accompany the text of the article. Also included in this volume is a brief piece by Friedrich Delitzsch on Neo-Babylonian contract tablets.

his work contains a discussion between Carl Heinrich Cornilland Bernhard Stade on the meaning of Jeremiah as "a prophet unto [the] nations" (1:5) in the context of the first chapter.

Leak provides a survey of Islam, and its relations to Christendom. His work involves the history, distribution, doctrines, and practice of Islam, and argues that the utter unlikeness of Allah is equivalent to agnosticism.