Crossing boundaries and linking horizons: studies in honor of Michael C. Astour.

Crossing boundaries and linking horizons: studies in honor of Michael C. Astour. GORDON D. YOUNG, MARK W. CHAVALAS & RICHARD E. AVERBECK (ed.).Crossing boundaries and linking horizons: studies in honor of Michael C.Astour. xxiii+689 pages, figures. 1997. Bethesda (MD): CDL 1. CDL - Computer Definition anguage. A hardware description language. "Computer Organisation and Microprogramming", Yaohan Chu, P-H 1970.2. CDL - Command Definition Language. Portion of ICES used to implement commands. Sammet 1969, p.618-620.3. ;1-883053-32-3 hardback $55. M.C. Astour, dedicatee ded��i��ca��tee?n.One to whom something, such as a literary work, is dedicated. of the 29 papers and subject of the twointerviews assembled by YOUNG et al., has been a crucible of Semiticphilology, biblical studies, Classics, archaeology and, most basically,historical geography. He has argued that Middle Eastern influence on theAegean was massive during the Bronze Age and into the Iron Age. Toillustrate the wealth of this collection, suffice it to mention R.E.Averbeck's long paper on textual conventions in the Gudeacylinders, W.T. Pitard's assessment of the meaning of en at Ebla,H.A. Hoffner on Hittite homicide, S.D. Walters on Old Testament boozing,B.J. Beitzel's discriminations between diffusion and migration inthe development of bronze in Palestine, J. Scurlock's clearlyillustrated analysis of textual evidence for `Neo-Assyrian battletactics', G.A. Rendsburg on the coalition of the Tribes of Israel,E.M. Yamauchi's assessment of Herodotus (broad, dispassionateobservation arrestingly written), J. Zarins on the archaeology andetymology of the incense trade to ancient Persia and India, and C.H.Gordon's little disquisition dis��qui��si��tion?n.A formal discourse on a subject, often in writing.[Latin disqus on how the levitate lev��i��tate?intr. & tr.v. lev��i��tat��ed, lev��i��tat��ing, lev��i��tatesTo rise or cause to rise into the air and float in apparent defiance of gravity. illustratesexchange between Indo-Hittite and Semitic tradition. Voyaging much further west with the Phoenicians, Prof. BLAZQUEZrelates a range of archaeological finds from late Iron Age and RomanSpain and the Central Mediterranean to the evidence of literature(including Old Testament and Homer), iconography and archaeology fromthe Aegean and Near East. His principal interest, in the 15 paperscollated here, is the influence of Semitic religion. The 13 papers gathered by COLEMAN & WALZ complement YOUNG etal. by concentrating more on the Greeks' view of the rest of theirworld. The papers of directest interest to most readers of ANTIQUITY areby Dr WALZ and G.F. Bass on evidence from nautical archaeology for tradeand exchange and by R.D. Woodward on linguistic and epigraphic ep��i��graph?n.1. An inscription, as on a statue or building.2. A motto or quotation, as at the beginning of a literary composition, setting forth a theme. evidencefor Greek cultural derivation (including the Bronze Age scripts of Creteand Cyprus). Three papers consider the issue of exchange with Africa andM.R. Lefkowitz reaffirms her opposition to theories from Herodotus(naive) to Martin Bernal (naive or disingenuous) about Greek culturaldebt thence. There are two papers on ancient Greek ethnocentrism ethnocentrism,the feeling that one's group has a mode of living, values, and patterns of adaptation that are superior to those of other groups. It is coupled with a generalized contempt for members of other groups. andthree on later political exploitation of ideas about ancient Greekcivilization, including in Greece itself during the past couple ofcenturies. Martin Bernal, who contributed pieces on the origins of the word,Negro, and its cognates to YOUNG et al. and on `Linguistic contactsaround the Eastern Mediterranean during the Bronze Age' to COLEMAN& WALZ, comes under scrutiny by Dr BERLINERBLAU, assessing hisintellectual affiliation, his techniques of data collation and analysis,and the methods of presentation in the famous Black Athenainterpretation of the roots of Greek culture. The work was revisionist,argues BERLINERBLAU, but many of its critics (including Prof. Lefkowitz)were too, he asserts, so that, in his view, the whole stridentcontroversy has tended to skate upon African, `Aryan' and Jewishcultural commitments without consistent reference to primary historicalor archaeological evidence. Pace Richard Rorty (philosopher admired byyounger archaeological researchers of a certain feather), he concludeswith a plea (a la Durkheim) for neutral methodology -- however hard toachieve.