17吃瓜ANNOUNCES THE ADDITION OF THE JOURNAL,听MAARAV
17吃瓜is pleased to announce that听Maarav听is now part of the 17吃瓜journal family and is available to 17吃瓜members with online access to all of our journals (NEA, BASOR, and听JCS) through the University of Chicago Press platform.听Maarav听is a journal for the Study of the Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures with an emphasis on linguistics, philology, and literary studies. This journal is devoted to the texts and verbal objects of the ancient Levant featuring Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician, and related languages. In addition to research on their verbal features,听Maarav听welcomes inquiry into their material, visual, and social aspects, their cultural horizons and relationships, and contemporary interests like the technological developments in decipherment, storage, representation, and analysis and the history and current practices of acquiring and interpreting ancient objects.
Please read the letter from the editor, Simeon Chavel (University of Chicago), below.
Dear Members,
It is an honor to follow Bruce Zuckerman (founder, 1978鈥�2002) and Christopher Rollston (2002鈥�2022) and serve as the third Editor of听Maarav. The journal will continue to center on the inscriptions found in the Levant (Syro-Palestine) of the Late Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Persian period written in the languages characteristic of the region. At its core will be study of the inscriptions鈥� material, linguistic, and literary aspects. Around the core will be studies comparing earlier and later inscriptions and literature; comparing literature in Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and the Mediterranean; and reconstructing Levantine societies, culture, and history. Anchored in distinct objects (verbal ones) defined by period and place rather than in tradition (biblical),听Maarav听sees itself as representing a crucial node and nexus of several overlapping fields of study of the ancient world, and it aims to serve robustly in that capacity.
Select topics illustrating the range are:
- the origins and spread of the alphabetic writing system and its comparison with other systems
- the varied uses of writing
- the genres of writing in general and of literature in particular
- the relationship of writing to art and to place, in immediate, broader, static, and dynamic contexts
- the wealth of religious, mythical, and other speculative lore
- the place of magic in society and in thought
- the significant role of writers (鈥渟cribes鈥�)
- regimes of administration and power
- the reach of concepts and practices across many regions and down through time.
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Wide-ranging developments make this a promising time for听Maarav听to thrive鈥攄evelopments in the technologies of deciphering images and of presenting them; in approaches to the material and social worlds of verbal objects; in the analysis of gender and of humanness; in the reconstruction of Levantine societies and ethnicity in their imperial contexts; in the understanding of cultural interaction from Mesopotamia across the Mediterranean; and in the ethics鈥攖he politics and the economics鈥攐f imperially enabled scholarship today.
Maarav听looks to fit in wonderfully at 17吃瓜alongside听BASOR,听JCS, and听NEA, and and is excited to be available to you, their inquisitive and learned readers. It plans to be published semiannually. The board of editors draws on three pools of colleagues: continuing editors, faculty at the University of Chicago, and additional scholars who represent desired areas of expertise and emerging trends. You can see the board, keep up with new issues, and access back-issues听.
Yours,
Simeon Chavel
This journal is only available to active members including Regular with online only access, Regular with both online and print delivery, Retired with online only access, Retired with both online access and print delivery, Sustaining, Early Career, Graduate, and Undergraduate levels. Associate and Contributing members do not have access to听Maarav.
Please take a look at the听ASOR听Maarav听publication page here听or look at the selection of back issues on the听. If you are an 17吃瓜member with access, you will need to be logged into the听听to access this journal. Contact听membership@asor.org听if you have questions on how to access听Maarav.
