Modern Wars and Ancient Governance: Archaeology and Textual Finds from First Millennium BCE Babylon
November 2022 | Vol. 10.11 By Odette Boivin When the German architect-turned-archaeologist Robert Koldewey and his colleagues unearthed cuneiform tablets from the ruins of Babylon
The ‘Biblical Origins’ of the Etruscans in the 16th Century CE and Their Impact on European Politics
In the 16th century scholars sought the origins of the Etruscans in the world after the Great Flood. For the Pope, the de’ Medicis, and the French, connecting with Noah/Janus was
Rethinking Austen Henry Layard
Scholars and others associate Austen Henry Layard with the site of Nineveh. But a fuller appreciation of the man, and his accomplishments, must reckon with his work as a diplomat,
Soviet Assyriology and its Aftermath
Like all aspects of academic, Soviet Assyriology took shape during the Stalin era. But as with Soviet life in general, the search for strict rules of history only highlighted contr
A Half a Century of Studying Biblical Coins
Why revise a book on coins for fifty years and six editions? For one thing there are more data than ever. For another, old questions with big implications keep sticking around, lik
Why Did the World End in 1200 BCE?
The year 1200 BCE has iconic status in histories of the ancient world. But did an English polymath and a German historian who liked round numbers foist this on the world?
My Meeting with Mellaart or, Dutch Cigars and the Case of the Missing Wall Paintings
April 2021 | Vol. 9.4 By Alex Joffe As a young and arrogant graduate student in the 1980s I had a way of barging in unannounced on famous archaeologists. So it was in 1987 or so th