COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL
Alan Millard, one of Britain’s leading epigraphers and an expert on biblical languages, passed away in Leamington Spa, England, on June 6. He was 86 years old.
Millard was Rankin Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages at the University of Liverpool. Born in Middlesex, his experiences as a youth investigating Britain’s Roman ruins begot a life-long interest in history and archaeology. He first studied Semitic languages at the University of Oxford’s Magdalen College and then earned his master’s from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in 1967.
The greatest of Millard’s wide-ranging interests was ancient inscriptions. He co-published the Assyrian–Aramaic bilingual inscription discovered at Tell Fekheriye in Syria that proved critical for understanding the early Aramaic language. His monograph The Eponyms of the Assyrian Empire 910–612 BC (1994) is foundational to any study of Neo-Assyrian history.
In addition, questions of literacy, orthography, and scribalism during the biblical period were subjects of numerous articles, culminating in his book Reading and Writing in the Time of Jesus (2000). He also had a deep interest in presenting biblical scholarship to the public. He wrote popular books, such as Treasures from Bible Times (1985) and Discoveries from Bible Times (1997), as well as more than a dozen articles and reviews in Biblical Archaeology Review and Bible Review (see selected list below).
Finally, his interest in the Bible spawned many contributions to biblical dictionaries, encyclopedias, and edited collections, including two volumes in which he served as co-editor, The Future of Biblical Archaeology (2004) and “Did I Not Bring Israel Out of Egypt?” (2016). He was also a translator for the New International Version of the Bible.
Selected Contributions to BAR and Bible Review
· “The Question of Israelite Literacy,” Bible Review, Fall 1987
· “Ebla and the Bible,” Bible Review, April 1992
· “How Reliable Is Exodus?” BAR, July/August 2000
· “Where Was Abraham’s Ur?” BAR, May/June 2001
· “Literacy in the Time of Jesus,” BAR, July/August 2003
· “Well-Hidden Ivories Surface at Nimrud,” BAR, July/August 2011
Alan Millard, one of Britain’s leading epigraphers and an expert on biblical languages, passed away in Leamington Spa, England, on June 6. He was 86 years old. Millard was Rankin Professor Emeritus of Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages at the University of Liverpool. Born in Middlesex, his experiences as a youth investigating Britain’s Roman ruins begot a life-long interest in history and archaeology. He first studied Semitic languages at the University of Oxford’s Magdalen College and then earned his master’s from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in 1967. The greatest of Millard’s wide-ranging […]
