Wayne Horowitz (born Roslyn, New York) is an archeologist and academic. He specialises in the ancient Near East and Assyriology. [1]
Wayne Horowitz received his BA from Brandeis University. He completed his Ph.D. thesis (this later leading to the work Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography [2] ) at Birmingham University under the supervision of W. G. Lambert. [1] Horowitz lectures at the Rothberg School for Overseas Students in the Department of Assyriology. [1] Prof. Horowitz is leading a team making available in publication the decipherment of a law code fragment (18th-17th century BCE), the first found in Israel that shows features similar to the law code of Hammurabi. [3] (From a website showing Copyright 2008 - 2011 AFHU ) [4] [5] [6]
His published works based on Sumerian and Akkadian texts written in cuneiform, these containing writings which in some way consider the structure of the Cosmos, are considered authoritative. [7]
The Shofar and the Ancient Near East (Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem exhibition, September 2011) [12]
A Kettle Drum ritual during Iyar-Seleucid Era 85 (March 2001) NABU 1991-80, [15] The Amarna Age: Inscribed Clay Cylinder from Beth-Shean(1996), [16] [17] Computed Tomography (CT) Imaging of Sealed Clay Cuneiform Tablets (in Hebrew). HaTebah Archaeologia WeMedeah 3 (1995) 8-12
Two New Ziqpu-Star Texts. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 43 (1994) 89-98; A Join to Enuma Anu Enlil 50. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 43 (1994) 127-129; Moab and Edom in the Sargon Geography. Israel Exploration Journal 43 (1993) 151-156; "A Parallel to Shamash Hymn 11-12 and the Melammu of the Sun." N.A.B.U. (1993) 54-55; Mesopotamian Accounts of Creation. Encyclopedia of Cosmology. Ed. N. Hetherington (Garland Press, 1993) 387-397;
"Two Abnu-Sikinsu Fragments." Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 82 (1992) 112-121; "A Kettle-Drum Ritual during Iyar Seleucid Era 85." N.A.B.U. (1991) 52-53; "The Reverse of the Neo-Assyrian Planisphere CT 33 11." Grazer Morgenlandische Studien 3 (1991) 149-159; "Antiochus I, Esagil, and a Celebration of the Ritual for Renovation of Temples." Revue d'assyriologie 85 (1991) 75-77;
Two Notes on Etana's Flight to Heaven. Orientalia 59 (1990) 511-517; The Isles of the Nations: Genesis 10:5 and Babylonian Geography. Studies in the Pentateuch (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum XLI. Ed. J. A. Emerton (1990) 35-43; More Writings for Ursa Major with Determinative gis. N.A.B.U. (1990) 2-3; Two Mul-Apin Fragments. Archiv für Orientforschung 36/37 (1989/90) 116-117; A Middle-Assyrian Exemplar of Urra. Archiv für Orientforschung 35 (1989) 161-178; An Akkadian Name for Ursa-Minor: mar.gid.da.an.na = eriqqi samami. Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 79 (1989) 242-245; The Babylonian Map of the World. Iraq 47 (1988) 147-165;
Birmingham Astronomical Cuneiform Texts. Festschrift for W. G. Lambert (in press); Halley's Comet and Judean Revolts Revisited. Catholic Biblical Quarterly (in press); Unrest in Canaan: An Amarna Period on a Letter from Bet Shean (in Hebrew). Kadmoniot (in press).
Hammurabi, also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from c. 1792 to c. 1750 BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered the city-states of Larsa, Eshnunna, and Mari. He ousted Ishme-Dagan I, the king of Assyria, and forced his son Mut-Ashkur to pay tribute, bringing almost all of Mesopotamia under Babylonian rule.
Akkadian literature is the ancient literature written in the Akkadian language in Mesopotamia during the period spanning the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
Marduk is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon who eventually rose to power in the First Millennium BC. In the city of Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in the temple Esagila. His symbol is the spade and he is associated with the Mušḫuššu.
The Old Babylonian Empire, or First Babylonian Empire, is dated to c. 1894–1595 BC, and comes after the end of Sumerian power with the destruction of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and the subsequent Isin-Larsa period. The chronology of the first dynasty of Babylonia is debated; there is a Babylonian King List A and also a Babylonian King List B, with generally longer regnal lengths. In this chronology, the regnal years of List A are used due to their wide usage.
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age.
The Babylonian calendar was a lunisolar calendar used in Mesopotamia from around the second millennium BCE until the Seleucid Era, and it was specifically used in Babylon from the Old Babylonian Period until the Seleucid Era. The civil lunisolar calendar was used contemporaneously with an administrative calendar of 360 days, with the latter used only in fiscal or astronomical contexts. The lunisolar calendar descends from an older Sumerian calendar used in the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE.
Nabu is the Babylonian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom. He is associated with the classical planet Mercury in Babylonian astronomy.
Tel Hazor, also Chatsôr, translated in LXX as Hasōr, named in Arabic Tell Waqqas / Tell Qedah el-Gul, is an archaeological tell at the site of ancient Hazor, located in Israel, Upper Galilee, north of the Sea of Galilee, in the northern Korazim Plateau. From the Middle Bronze Age to the Iron Age, Hazor was the largest fortified city in the region and one of the most important in the Fertile Crescent. It maintained commercial ties with Babylon and Syria, and imported large quantities of tin for the bronze industry. In the Book of Joshua, Hazor is described as "the head of all those kingdoms". Though scholars largely do not consider the Book of Joshua to be historically accurate, archaeological excavations have emphasized the city's importance.
Damgalnuna, also known as Damkina, was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the wife of the god Enki. Her character is poorly defined in known sources, though it is known that like her husband she was associated with ritual purification and that she was believed to intercede with him on behalf of supplicants. Among the deities regarded as their children were Nanshe and Asalluhi. While the myth Enki and Ninhursag treats her as interchangeable with the goddess mentioned in its title, they were usually separate from each other. The cities of Eridu and Malgium were regarded as Damgalnuna's cult centers. She was also worshiped in other settlements, such as Nippur, Sippar and Kalhu, and possibly as early as in the third millennium BCE was incorporated into the Hurrian pantheon. She appears in a number of myths, including the Enūma Eliš, though only a single composition, Damkina's Bond, is focused on her.
Zarpanitu was a Mesopotamian goddess regarded as the spouse of Marduk. Not much is known about her character, though late sources indicate that she was associated with pregnancy and that she could be assigned similar roles as her husband, including that of queen of the gods. She was originally worshiped in Zarpan, a village near Babylon, though the latter city itself also served as her cult center.
Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia. The numeral system used, sexagesimal, was based on sixty, as opposed to ten in the modern decimal system. This system simplified the calculating and recording of unusually great and small numbers.
Babylonian astrology was the first known organized system of astrology, arising in the second millennium BC.
MUL.APIN is the conventional title given to a Babylonian compendium that deals with many diverse aspects of Babylonian astronomy and astrology. It is in the tradition of earlier star catalogues, the so-called Three Stars Each lists, but represents an expanded version based on more accurate observation, likely compiled around 1000 BCE. The text lists the names of 66 stars and constellations and further gives a number of indications, such as rising, setting and culmination dates, that help to map out the basic structure of the Babylonian star map.
Ekallatum (Akkadian: 𒌷𒂍𒃲𒈨𒌍, URUE2.GAL.MEŠ, Ekallātum, "the Palaces") was an ancient Amorite city-state and kingdom in upper Mesopotamia.
Babylonian astronomy collated earlier observations and divinations into sets of Babylonian star catalogues, during and after the Kassite rule over Babylonia. These star catalogues, written in cuneiform script, contained lists of constellations, individual stars, and planets. The constellations were probably collected from various other sources. The earliest catalogue, Three Stars Each, mentions stars of Akkad, of Amurru, of Elam and others. Various sources have theorized a Sumerian origin for these Babylonian constellations, but an Elamite origin has also been proposed. A connection to the star symbology of Kassite kudurru border stones has also been claimed, but whether such kudurrus really represented constellations and astronomical information aside from the use of the symbols remains unclear.
The chronology of the ancient Near East is a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Historical inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers: "in the year X of king Y". Comparing many records pieces together a relative chronology relating dates in cities over a wide area.
Hermann Hunger is an Austrian Assyriologist, professor emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Vienna, from which he retired in 2007. He has been recognized for his work on Babylonian astronomy and celestial omens.
The Dynastic Chronicle, "Chronicle 18" in Grayson's Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles or the "Babylonian Royal Chronicle" in Glassner’s Mesopotamian Chronicles, is a fragmentary ancient Mesopotamian text extant in at least four known copies. It is actually a bilingual text written in 6 columns, representing a continuation of the Sumerian king list tradition through to the 8th century BC and is an important source for the reconstruction of the historical narrative for certain periods poorly preserved elsewhere.
Tel Hadid is an archaeological site in Israel. It is located on an isolated hill, 147 metres above sea level, south of a tributary of Ayalon River. The site overlooks the central coastal plain of Israel, the Lydda Valley, and the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, offering a strategic vantage point.
original source:Faculty of the Hebrew University Archived 2018-12-19 at the Wayback Machine