Abraham Winitzer
Rank
Assistant Professor
Title
Assistant Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and History
Fields
Biblical Studies/Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity
Education
BA, MA, Brandeis University
MA, PhD, Harvard University
Research and Teaching Interests
Winitzer teaches ancient Near East languages (primarily Akkadian, Aramaic, and Hebrew), but his interests deal broadly with the cultural and intellectual history of the ancient Near East, and the place of these branches of history in the literature from this region. More particularly, it is the Akkadian literature from ancient Mesopotamia that forms the focus of his work, though a second major area involves Israel’s principal literary achievement, the Hebrew Bible, in its ancient Near Eastern context. His writings thus far have centered on Akkadian divination, the subject of his forthcoming book (Brill). Among his ongoing larger projects are studies on the Mesopotamian background of Israelite myth as well as on contemporary Near Eastern historiography.
Recent Publications
“Toward Assessing Ancient Near Eastern Scholarship: The Case of E. A. Speiser,” in Gazing on the Deep: Ancient Near Eastern and Other Studies in Honor of Tzvi Abusch, ed. J. Stackert, B. N. Porter, and D. P. Wright (Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 2010), 379-410.
“The Divine Presence and Its Interpretation in Early Mesopotamian Divination,” in Divination and the Interpretation of Signs in the Ancient World, ed. A. Annus (OIS 6; Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2010), 177-97.
“Hazor 17: Another Clay Liver Model” in Israel Exploration Journal, with W. Horowitz and T. Oshima, Israel Exploration Journal 60 (2010): 133-45.
“Writing and Mesopotamian Divination: The Case of Alternative Interpretation,” in Journal of Cuneiform Studies (forthcoming).
Contact
343 Malloy Hall
574-631-0921
Email: winitzer.1@nd.edu