Even Briefer

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Old World Civilizations: The Rise of Cities and States

gen. ed., Goren Burenhult

(New York: Harper Collins, 1994), 242 pp., $40.00

This lavishly illustrated volume, the third in a five-volume series from the American Museum of Natural History, addresses a crucial stage in human history: the growth of urban experience and the “birth” of history. Scholars from various countries review the rise of civilizations in Asia, Europe and Africa, beginning 6,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, where the earliest written documents were produced, and ending with the rise of new kingdoms in sub-Saharan Africa around 1500 A.D.

Intended for the general reader, the volume contains a glossary, an index and numerous maps, charts and photographs. One illustration, for instance, a photo of a cuneiform tablet with a key to its symbols, permits the untrained reader to decipher this ancient invoice for a shipment of grain and beer.

The ten chapters are organized chronologically by geographical area, allowing for easy comparison of developments in far-flung regions of the world. This handsome volume does not avoid debates about the origins of global civilizations: Were they largely products of individual genius or were they the efflorescence of many generations of communal activities? Did they develop under their own conditions and laws, like closed systems? Or were they seeded by ideas and techniques spreading from one civilization to another? As might be expected, this work provides more questions than answers, but it is still a fine introduction to the subject and a useful reference tool. Those interested in Biblical archaeology, however, will be disappointed that it mentions ancient Israel only in passing.

A Companion to Samaritan Studies

eds. Alan D. Crown, Reinhard Pummer and Abraham Tal

(Tubingen, Germany: Mohr, 1993), 248 pp., $137.50

The 1988 book The Samaritans, edited by Alan Crown with contributions from numerous Samaritan scholars, is a comprehensive encyclopedia of all things Samaritan—history, religion, society, art and culture. Now Alan Crown, with Reinhard Pummer and Abraham Tal, has published a companion volume to the earlier work, though it is in fact a good deal more than that: This handbook-cum-encyclopedia not only contains entries on the full spectrum of Samaritan studies, but it also provides updates on research not included in The Samaritans, including expanded sections on Samaritan theology and folklore. The editors have also given increased attention to the problem of Samaritan pronunciation of Hebrew and Aramaic, in the course of which they have slightly altered conventional orthography to render certain names from the Pentateuch more accurately.

The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Vol. 1

Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner [English edition translated and supervised by M. E. J. Richardson]

(Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1994), 368 pp., $129.75

This third edition of one of the monumental achievements in Biblical studies in the post-war years, the Koehler-Baumgartner dictionary of terms from the Old Testament and related literature in classical Hebrew and Aramaic, is the fruit of more than a quarter-century of work by various scholars. The first two editions (1953, 1957) provide the basis of this third edition, the first fascicle of which Baumgartner completed in 1967. The task of producing a revised, comprehensive version has been going on ever since, with the end now in sight. The separate English translation—the first two editions were published simultaneously in German and English—comprises four volumes, with Volume 1 covering the first eight letters of the Hebrew-Aramaic alphabet. The new dictionary incorporates both new material, such as Dead Sea Scrolls texts, and recent advances in Semitic linguistics. It also includes prefaces from the first two editions and from all five German fascicles. Scholars will be pleased that this third edition is organized alphabetically rather than by verbal roots.

Old World Civilizations: The Rise of Cities and States