Ah, Assyria... (Scripta Hierosolymitana XXXIII)

About the Book -- Ah, Assyria... (Scripta Hierosolymitana XXXIII)

From Preface:

A major focus of this work has been the investigation of the ideological patterns in the Assyrian historical inscriptions. In concluding a recent study, Tadmor noted that

He gave expression here, perhaps instinctively, to one of the central pillars and raison d'etre of his distinguished scholarly career.

Tadmor is first and foremost a historian. During his early studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he already concentrated in Bible and History (1943-1949). At the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London (1951-1952), he began a career-long specialization in Assyriology. After receiving his PhD in Jerusalem (1955), he pursued postgraduate work at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (1955-1957) under the tutelage of Benno Landsberger. Tadmor then returned to Jerusalem, to lecture in Near Eastern studies and to found the Department of Assyriology at the Hebrew University, with which he has been associated until the present. He has been a frequent lecturer at universities in the United States, Canada and in Europe. In recognition of his scholarly achievements, he was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1985 and the American Oriental Society in 1986.

Tadmor ranks as one of the leading authorities on the history of Mesopotamia during the first millennium B.C.E. In particular, he has developed models for the study of the major corpus of that history, the Assyrian royal inscriptions, with a view towards defining their ideological trends and the techniques of literary transmission; his models have become the accepted norm for the analysis of these documents.

Tadmor^,s work on ancient historiography integrates both Mesopotamian as well as biblical sources. Early on, Tadmor recognized the significance of chronology for understanding the affairs of state and so, he has periodically returned to refine his system of Biblical Chronology with the aid of extra-biblical records. He has lavished special attention upon the Assyrian monarch Tiglath-pileser III, during whose reign Israel was first brought under direct Assyrian rule; in dozens of Vorarbeiten, he consulted the excavator's notebooks in order to restore the order of the surviving fragmentary texts and now has prepared a definitive edition of the Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser 111, in press. His studies of the history of Israel and its land range from the pre-Monarchic period until the Restoration, with special emphasis on the history of the Neo-Assyrian and Achaemenid empires in the West. In addition to their political aspects, Tatlmor paints a lucid picture of social and cultural trends in Israel and Assyria.

It is the wish of the contributors and editors of this volume that our jubilarian will find in it material of interest and relevance to advance his own work. As Daniel and his friends in their day, ״proficient in the writings and language of the Chaldeans," may he enjoy long and happy years "with knowledge and intelligence" in the service of God and man.

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