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Poll: Does Ancient Near Eastern Content Matter (Part 2)


Peter Brylov Christensen

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Hi again!

 

After looking at the previous poll about ANE material once more, it showed that 17 people had voted for more ANE modules for Accordance, being slightly lower than the number I had hoped for, which was 20. Then I went ahead and searched for other polls made in these forums in order to find out how the poll fared in comparison to the other ones in terms of votes (including the so-called "null votes") and thread view count. And from what I can tell, it seems that the first ANE poll is doing okay. So I'll be making another poll about ANE material after all!

 

This time around, I want you all to vote for what kind of ANE material you specifically want for Accordance - Multiple choice is allowed this time, but you cannot rank your choices, it seems. And you're more than welcome to request specific ANE literature here, reflecting your vote(s) made in the poll. The poll is still anonymous like the one before, so you don't have to defend your vote or anything, but it would never the less be great if you'd throw in your two cents, be it positive or negative.

I'll also list the other polls I searched after for future reference. All the data below were correct on November 18th 2014. My search criteria were simply "poll" yielding 21 threads in the search results, some which didn't even contain polls in them - I couldn't find a way to only search for topics with polls. As such, I most likely missed a few of those threads. "Anglican Content" is one of them, which I had to look for manually.

 

But what may we conclude from all of the poll data? Comparing the thread view count with the number of total votes cast in each poll, it seems that we have loads of curious Accordance users that are not forum members, who may or may not be genuinely interested in the features mentioned within the respective threads. At the very least they did click on the thread, though, showing some degree of interest. Furthermore, the amount of null votes is almost always very low. So, the votes in all of these polls will probably not reflect the interest (or lack thereof) in the entire Accordance user base, and the thread count is not representative for the user base either, but the votes do faithfully represent the interest amongst the forum members, which is a very good place to start.

 

With kind regards

 

Peter Christensen (Pchris)

 

2014

12th November 2014:
"Does Ancient Near Eastern Content Matter"
http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=14383

 

Total views: 627

Total votes cast: 39

Actual votes: 30

Null votes: 9

 

22nd September 2014:

"Add iCloud storage functionality"

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13542

 

Total views: 673

Total votes cast: 33

Actual votes: 25

 

Null votes: 8

 

September 13th 2014

"Anglican Content"

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13475 [it did not show up in the original results. I remembered voting in this one.]

 

Total views: 1045

Total votes cast: 23

Actual votes: 16

Null votes: 7

 

2012

 

September 7th 2012:

"Should Accordance provide an option to display section titles in the main Bible text?"

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8531

 

Total Views: 3474

Total votes cast: 63

Actual votes: 49

 

Null votes: 14

 

August 24th 2012

"Mid-range Collection"

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8378

 

Total views: 878

Total votes cast: 15

Actual votes: 10

 

Null votes: 5

2010

July 5th 2010

"iPhone and iPad apps"

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4395

 

Total views: 1896

Total votes cast: 21

Actual votes: 20

Null votes: 1

 

2008

 

March 12th 2008

"Accordance on iPhone"

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2110

 

Total views: 2144

Total votes cast: 65

Actual votes: 59

Null votes: 6

 

2006

 

February 10th 2006

"Copy as Lexical Form"

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=566

 

Total views: 1394

Total votes cast: 15

Actual votes: 12

Null votes: 3

 

2005

 

September 10th 2005

"Poll: Improve interleaved Options"

http://www.accordancebible.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=290

 

Total views: 1484

Total votes cast: 5

Actual votes: 4

Null votes: 1

 

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Hey Peter,

 

As someone who is essentially clueless, but curious, in this space option 5 sounds good. So could I prevail upon you for a few pointers as to decent introductory books on ANE or surveys of the field ?

 

Thx

D

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Hi Daniel!

 

For detailed surveys of the ANE texts themselves, you'll find these in most critical editions of the ANE texts. They usually go hand in hand. So by voting for "Sumero-Akkadian texts", you'd indirectly vote for detailed surveys about Sumero-Akkadian literature, too. For instance, "Atra-Hasis - The Babylonian Story of the Flood with the Sumerian Flood Story" by W.G. Lambert et alli discusses the various sources in their literary and archaeological context but little else. That means you won't find a long prolegomena on the ANE in its entirety, but rather a lot of Gilgamesh and the Biblical flood story.

 

For detailed surveys about the ANE in general, there is a good collection of these in Jack Sasson's "Civilizations of the Ancient Near East" (1995). It is a 4-volume work containing loads of detailed articles by many different scholars, covering many aspects of the ANE.

 

As for introductory works I can recommend Leo Oppenheim's "Ancient Mesopotamia - Portrait of a Dead Civilization" (1977), as it covers a lot of the ANE. It is regarded a classic among Assyriologists and is still relevant in spite of its age. There is also the recent work by archaeologist Mario Liverani called "The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy" which got released this year in English from Italian (Antico Oriente. Storia, società, economia.) That one literally covers it all except from literary analyses of the ANE texts, of course.

 

With kind regards

 

Peter Christensen (Pchris)

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Happy to help!

 

On a different note, I'm (pleasantly) surprised to see that some have expressed interest in the Hittite corpus. My own knowledge in this particular field of the ANE is scarce, to say the least, as I haven't gotten around to study it properly, but I do recognize its importance for both its literary and historical texts.

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Peter, et al.,

 

Are you guys aware of the Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus project over at UPenn? I just found out about it through the AGADE listserv this afternoon. Looks interesting, and relevant, since they have some already lemmatized texts under a Creative Commons license…

 

Cheers,

Tony

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The guy with whom I studied Sumerian cuneiform told me about the project and I use it every now and then to access the State Archives of Assyria - but I'm very glad that you mentioned it here. I'd give you twenty "likes" if I could: The project is an important resource on par with the InscriptiFact Project. And perhaps this would be a good place for Accordance to obtain licenses for transliterated cuneiform texts seeing that some digitalization has been done already?

With kind regards

 

Peter Christensen

 

*EDIT*

 

Oh, and there's another resource on their webpage which isn't listed in the ORACC project that might be worth mentioning: They have their own online Sumerian (with Akkadian) dictionary aptly named "Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary". Do you know of it, Tony? It's not complete, but it's still the best resource there is, seeing that there isn't really a Sumerian Dictionary on the market other than John Halloran's "Sumerian Lexicon", but its usefulness is apparently very contested - at least a whole lot more than the not-quite-finished Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary.

 

Anyway, here's the link: http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/epsd1/index.html

Edited by Pchris
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Hi Daniel!

 

 

As for introductory works I can recommend Leo Oppenheim's "Ancient Mesopotamia - Portrait of a Dead Civilization" (1977),

 

 

. . . which is available for free at

https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/ancient_mesopotamia.pdf

 

Regards,

 

Michel

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..Not to mention The Sumerian King List and the CAD! But there's a whole bunch of other available stuff at their webpage too:

 

https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/catalog-publications

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A very cool looking website apt to cause considerable distraction from other things :)

Anyhow off home where I believe a hardcopy of the book awaits me !

 

Thx

D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Daniel,

 

There are two other books that I have found helpful for an overview, which I would consider candidates for option 5.

 

Ehrlich, Carl S., ed.
2009 From an Antique Land: An Introduction to Ancient Near Eastern Literature. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Sparks, Kenton L.
2005 Ancient Texts for the Study of the Hebrew Bible: A Guide to the Background Literature. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.
A.D.
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I believe an update is in order:

Some time ago (November 19th), I decided to contact Rick Bennett, asking what the next course of action should be on account of the poll data, which also at the time favored option 2 "Relevant grammars and Lexica for the available Northwest Semitic text modules". Rick then asked me to name three resources fit for implementation into Accordance with respect to relevance and availability (Obtaining licenses can be difficult, it seems). As it turned out, people from Accordance were meeting with a lot of publishers at AAR/SBL at that time, so I quickly had to decide on three such resources.

 

My choices were these:

 

1. A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition Part One: [ʾ(a/i/u)-k] and Two: [l-ẓ] by Gregorio del Olmo Lete & Joaquín Sanmartín, translated by Wilfred G.E. Watson (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section one. The Near and Middle East, volume 67; Second revised edition; Leiden: Brill, 2004) (A new edition will be published in 2015!)

2. A Grammar of the Ugaritic Language by Daniel Sivan (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section one. The Near and Middle East, volume Twenty-eight; Second impression with corrections; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001)

3. The Ugaritic Baal Cycle volume I - Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU 1.1-1.2 by Mark Smith (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum Volume LV; Leiden: Brill, 1994) and The Ugaritic Baal Cycle volume II - Introduction with Text, Translation and Commentary of KTU/CAT 1.3-1.4 by Mark Smith & Wayne Pitard (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum Volume 114; Leiden: Brill, 2009)

Apart from the Ugaritic Dictionary, which was a no-brainer for me, I had a very difficult time choosing the other two slots, but in the end I decided to focus strictly on the Ugaritic material, seeing that there are already some tools available for the other Northwest Semitic inscriptions, whereas the Ugaritic Data Bank has nothing as of yet. So, if it were possible to tag the texts to the dictionary, Sivan's grammar and possibly Mark Smith's translations and commentary, I figured that it should cover the most vital aspects.

I haven't heard anything new yet, so I'm excited to see what happens next. At any rate, I hope that you all may find my choices to be the right ones; If not, you are more than welcome to state why here. Voicing your opinion is the way to go if you want new modules, after all! :) That also goes for the Sumero-Akkadian, Egyptian and Hittite texts and literature about the ANE - While they didn't make the cut this time, the poll data still indicates that there are people who're interested in this, so keep on requesting!

With kind regards

Peter Christensen (Pchris)

*EDIT*

Ha, would you look at that - now option 2 is tied with option 5! Well, the votes still matter in terms of obtaining data, so the more votes the better!

*EDIT 2*

...And option 2 is in the lead again.

Edited by Pchris
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Excellent choices! Having the dictionary in Accordance will also make tagging the Ugaritic database (whenever that's done) easier, as will Smith's Baal Cycle volumes. Good stuff.

 

Robert

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Hi Peter,

 

If you end up tagging the UDB, A Concordance of Ugaritic Words will also make it easier.

 

In case you don't not know, the Spanish version is available online at

https://csic.academia.edu/JoseAngelZAMORA

 

English glosses from DULAT would be great, but it would be even better if users could edit them. I wish Accordance would allow users to edit all glosses. Perhaps it could be programmed from the start with the UDB.

 

Regarding grammars, if and when you tag UDB, and perhaps along with it the new KTU, you should consider translating Tropper's Ugaritische Grammatik. :)

 

Regards,

 

Michel

Edited by Michel Gilbert
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Hi Michel!

 

It sounds like a fun and interesting challenge! I haven't tried something like this before, but if it hasn't been done by mid-April (which is the final deadline for my master's thesis) I'll go ahead and do it. I'll have more time on my hands by then. I have the new KTU in print as well, so I should have all the materials needed for such a task.

 

Ah yes, Tropper's grammar is my favourite one. But I suggested Sivan's grammar in the end in order to avoid scaring off people that don't read German, and Sivan's grammar does get the job done nicely - Although I guess I'd still like to see Tropper's grammar as an Accordance module, nonetheless. It is, arguably, the best one out there, in spite of Dennis Pardee's criticisms.

 

With kind regards

 

Peter Christensen (Pchris)

Edited by Pchris
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Hi Peter,

 

I highly doubt that someone else will begin the project by next spring! It's very exciting news that you would be willing to do it.

 

I think that some combination of tagging, especially if it includes syntax, building on Smith and Pitard's work and using Robert's method developed for Hebrew, and new findings based on the syntax tagging would be a worthy project for a Ph.D., and it would form the basis of future offerings, .e.g., tagging of Akkadian texts related to the Bible. Just a suggestion. :)

 

The project seems tailor-made for you. You could make a name for yourself in Ugaritic studies, especially with your knowledge of Sumerian, Akkadian, and NW Semitics. So I encourage you to pursue this with Accordance. Could you imagine all the NW Semitic texts morphologically and syntactically tagged, along with Akkadian, and . . . cough . . . Egyptian texts related to the HB tagged in the same way?

 

I have a suggestion regarding financing. Accordance could offer a new Ugaritic tagged module, beginning with tagging and glosses of the UDB, perhaps with DULAT and a grammar to follow, as a pre-publication. I would pre-pay for just the tagging and glosses of the UDB. It would also be nice if those who pre-paid could receive beta releases, to check for accuracy and make suggestions.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

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Peter,

 

Contact me off the forum if/when you become serious about taking on such a large project. There are a number of up-front decisions you'll need to make. It is extremely tedious work, but if you're geared that way, it's also quite rewarding.

 

Robert

Edited by Robert Holmstedt
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Hi Peter,

 

I highly doubt that someone else will begin the project by next spring! It's very exciting news that you would be willing to do it.

 

I think that some combination of tagging, especially if it includes syntax, building on Smith and Pitard's work and using Robert's method developed for Hebrew, and new findings based on the syntax tagging would be a worthy project for a Ph.D., and it would form the basis of future offerings, .e.g., tagging of Akkadian texts related to the Bible. Just a suggestion. :)

 

The project seems tailor-made for you. You could make a name for yourself in Ugaritic studies, especially with your knowledge of Sumerian, Akkadian, and NW Semitics. So I encourage you to pursue this with Accordance. Could you imagine all the NW Semitic texts morphologically and syntactically tagged, along with Akkadian, and . . . cough . . . Egyptian texts related to the HB tagged in the same way?

 

I have a suggestion regarding financing. Accordance could offer a new Ugaritic tagged module, beginning with tagging and glosses of the UDB, perhaps with DULAT and a grammar to follow, as a pre-publication. I would pre-pay for just the tagging and glosses of the UDB. It would also be nice if those who pre-paid could receive beta releases, to check for accuracy and make suggestions.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

I couldn't have said it better myself! That would really be something. Accordance is a power house and quite capable of handling complex comparative study with the ANE texts. And the Ugaritic tagging project alone could make a great PhD-project, now that you mention it. While I'm not entirely sure whether my faculty would hire me to do it, no-one's doing Ugaritic studies anywhere else in the country. Not even at our specialized ANE faculty. So it might be possible. Well, you have me convinced, Michel. A project like this is my kind of thing, and many people doing Biblical studies would benefit from it.

 

So count me in!

 

With kind regards

 

Peter Christensen (Pchris)

Edited by Pchris
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Peter,

 

Contact me off the forum if/when you become serious about taking on such a large project. There are a number of up-front decisions you'll need to make. It is extremely tedious work, but if you're geared that way, it's also quite rewarding.

 

Robert

 

 

Ah, just saw your post - will a PM do, or is email better?

Edited by Pchris
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Email is probably easier, since I don't check the Forum nearly as much as I check email.

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Hm, I couldn't find your email, so I'll make a PM this time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm studying Hittitology so kudos for mentioning Illuyanka!

 

A long time ago (I haven't been on the forums for a while), I suggested looking into adding volumes from the SBL WAW series. What do you think of that?

 

-Robert

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It's a great idea! I've requested "Law collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor by Martha Roth" (SBLWAW 6) at one point, primarily for Codex Hammurabi and the Sumerian laws, but the entire series is quite good and highly relevant for Biblical studies, of course.

 

Regarding new modules in general, it's always difficult to say whether the people from Accordance are able to obtain the required licenses, which can be problematic at times - and then there's the matter of priority. The latter, however, may be affected by popular demand e.g. requests and polls. As such, it's good to see a Hittite enthusiast on the forums: Voicing your opinion and requesting is the way forward! And you're not alone either seeing that there were other people who voted for the Hittite texts. At any rate, I'm with you on this.

 

+1!

 

With kind regards

 

Peter Christensen

Edited by Pchris
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