The Adoption of the “Adoption” Formula in Biblical Literature

NELC Seminar Room (Humanities 365) 365 Humanities, Los Angeles, CA, United States

The metaphor of adoption saturates biblical literature, yet there is no discrete adoption law in the Hebrew Bible. This metaphor did not draw upon one particular source or ancient Near Eastern legal tradition, but had a wide range of associations rooted in familial and political life. The performative and ritual nature of adoption in the...

I Can Hear The Barbarians

NELC Seminar Room (Humanities 365) 365 Humanities , Los Angeles, CA, United States

New Light on the Egyptian Origin of the Hebrew Alphabet

Young Research Library (YRL) Room 11360 280 Charles E Young Dr N , Los Angeles, CA, United States

The publication of a new inscription from Theban Tomb 99 sheds new light on the early history of the Hebrew Alphabet.  This ostracon is a bilingual “abecedary” written in Egyptian Hieroglyphic and Semitic.  It gives further evidence for an Egyptian connection to the origins of the early Hebrew alphabet. Sponsored by the UCLA Near Eastern...

Sea Peoples and Neo-Hittites in the ‘Land of Palistin’: Recent Discoveries at Tayinat on the Orontes

Faculty Center

Recent archaeological discoveries have begun to challenge the prevailing view of the Early Iron Age (ca. 1200-900 BCE) as an era of cultural devolution and ethnic strife, or a ‘Dark Age’, in the eastern Mediterranean, as depicted in the Homeric epics and the Hebrew Bible. This illustrated talk will highlight the exciting discoveries of the...

To Refer or Not to Refer: Tracking Intertextuality in the Hebrew Bible

NELC Seminar Room (Humanities 365) 365 Humanities, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Professor Machinist will develop aspects of intertextuality through several examples involving well-known biblical texts, including Psalm 29—a famous “Canaanite” hymn in the Psalter. This seminar will be held in conjunction with Professor Schniedewind’s Ugaritic seminar. Graduate students are encouraged to read Psalm 29 and Y. Avishur’s chapter on “Psalm 29” in Studies in Hebrew and...

Searching for Scribal Curriculum in Ancient Israel

NELC Seminar Room (Humanities 365) 365 Humanities, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Professor William Schniedewind will present the outlines of his research in progress—a book on Scribal Education in Ancient Israel. The research proposes that outlines of scribal curriculum in early Israel can now be reconstructed based on his interpretation of the recently fully published inscriptions from Kuntillet Ajrud and using parallels with Mesopotamian scribal curriculum and...

Graduate Student Conference Talks and Q&A

Humanities Room 365 415 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Come and hear what the graduate students in NELC are working on! Graduate students presenting their research at academic conferences in the next month will be giving their talks for the NELC community, and would love feedback and questions! Speakers (in order): Andrew Danielson  Danielle Candelora Jacob Damm Jeremy Williams Timothy Hogue Marissa Stevens Event...

Graduate Student Research Presentations and Q&A

Kaplan Hall 365

12:00 – 1:00pm Overspecializing the Specialist: Reevaluating the Role of Producers in the Study of Technological Interconnectivity Nadia Ben-Marzouk (Archaeology) Accounting for Kingship: The Samaria Ostraca as Royal Performance Jason Price (Hebrew Bible) An Image on the Stele or a Ghost in the Shell? A Cognitive Scientific Approach to the Material "Soul" in the Levant...

Applying for Jobs and Life After the Dissertation

Kaplan Hall 365

Join NELC faculty Dr. Cate Bonesho, Dr. Kara Cooney, and Dr. Bill Schniedewind for a workshop and discussion of applying for jobs and life after the dissertation.   Event Flyer RSVP Below: