The Biblical Archaeologist - Vol.59, N.1

76 Pages·1996·28.42 MB·English

by  American Schools of Oriental Research

D9g- b4 --VII,-
Prpci ve on heAniet ord ro Msootmigt thgMdierananVo..9.o.1.arh*99
.o A
Vol
do )IF
t
10
?.;-~ ??
aAs.s A 4'
to
o o,
fee
toc 01 :if 4-,i
BiblicaAl rchaeologist
Perspectiveso n the Ancient Worldf rom Mesopotamiat o the Mediterranean Volume 59 Number 1
A Publication of the American Schools of OrientalR esearch March 1996
2 "ForeverG ordon":P ortrait of a Master Scholar with a Global Perspective
page 2 Meir Lubetski and Claire Gottlieb
A rare combination of scholarly gentleman, mentor, and teacher par excellence, Cyrus Gor-
don's life overflows with unique experiences and soaring achievements. Often blazing trails
on the edge of scholarship, it is gratifying to behold the esteem in which growing circles
hold this "scholar for all seasons."
13 Homer and the Near East:T he Rise of the Greek Genius
Louis H. Feldman
Once the eccentricity of pioneers like Gordon, the postulate of an early Greek acquisition
of the alphabet from the Phoenicians permits Homer to be recast as a literate poet, much
influenced by the Near Eastern epic tradition.
22 A "MediterraneanS ynthesis":P rofessor Cyrus H. Gordon's
Contributionst o the Classics
Howard Marblestone
Cyrus Gordon's most emblematic and enduring intellectual legacy will undoubtedly be
his vision of cultural synthesis interweaving the East Mediterranean axis of Syria-Pales-
tine, the delta of Egypt, and Minoan Crete which became the multiplex foundation of Greek
and Hebrew civilizations.R ecent scholarship on contact between these cultures and, indeed,
the work of Rome's greatest poet Vergil, vindicates Gordon's farsighted vision.
31 A ContinuingA dventure:C yrus Gordon and Mesopotamia
Martha A. Morrison
Mesopotamia figures prominently from the beginning of Gordon'sc areer.H is observations
as a field archaeologist and epigrapher from Ur to Tell el-Amarna brought philological and
cultural issues in the Nuzi tablets to his attention. The parallels he drew between Nuzi and
the Hebrew Bible were to resonate through succeeding generations of scholarship.
36 "SomeoneW ill Succeed in Deciphering Minoan":M inoan Linear A
as a West Semitic Dialect
Gary A. Rendsburg
After a decade of research on the interconnections between Greece, Ugarit, and Israel,w ith
Crete as the hub, Gordon approached the decipherment of Minoan Linear A. Previous
scholars had realized that Linear A was not Greek as in Linear B. Gordon stepped in to
assert, controversially,t hat the language of Minoan Linear A was a West Semitic dialect.
44 The Father of Ugaritic Studies
David Toshio Tsumura
From his provision of basic tools for Ugaritic study to his specific linguistic contributions,
from his analysis of literary style to his view of the entire ancient Near East as the world
of the Hebrew Bible, Gordon'si mpact on Ugaritic and biblical studies reaches the prover-
bial seven times seven.
page 14
51 Magic Bowls: Cyrus H. Gordon and the Ubiquity of Magic in the
Pre-ModernW orld
Edwin M. Yamauchi
Magic bowls illuminate everyday human concerns-fears and worries, jealousies and
hatreds. They remind us of the presence of magic in the ancient-and indeed, modern-
world. Gordon's work on magic bowls carried on the interest of his teacher Montgomery,
and he himself passed the passion on to a congeries of his students.
Archaeological Applications of Advanced Imaging Techniques
GregoryH . Bearman and Sheila I. Spiro
! D..................... Utilizing techniques developed by NASA, the imaging of texts on papyri, parchment,
: i pottery, or plaster can capture much information invisible to the naked eye. Multi-spectral
imaging and computer manipulation of digital images enhances legibility of obscured
Dead Sea Scroll texts and faded ostraca alike.
On the Cover:S uperimposedu pon Gordon'st ranscriptiono f a Ugaritict ext, an
ivory plaque (H = 24 cm) from RasS hamrap ortraysa goddess nursingt wo
children. FromS yria3 1 (1954):p l. 8.
From the Editor Biblical
Archaeologist
Specially devoted to the warp and woof of Cyrus H. Gordon'sf ascinating and remark- Perspectives on the Ancient Worldf rom
able scholarly life, this issue arouses joy and celebration.I t also provokes multiple reflections Mesopotamiat o the Mediterranean
on the state of the study of the ancient world-Gordon's career sets the challenges archae- EditorD avidC .H opkins
ology faces in high relief. The need to break out of old habits of thinking and research Art Director Bucky Edgett,L uckyP roductions
Book Review EditorJ ames C. Moyer
comes first to notice. Emblematic of Gordon's scholarship, this current need arises out Arti-FactsE ditors Bruce and Carolyn Routledge
of the expansion of archaeology's intellectual horizons and the shattering of genera- EditoriaAl ssistants
tions-old political boundaries. In the light of Gordon's masterly control of the vast arena MaryP etrinaB oydE, llenR owseS pero
of ancient history, concerns also surround the fractionalization of the archaeological dis- EditoriaCl ommittee
cipline even as "global"r ealities and ideologies take cultural center stage. Moreover,w ith JefferyA . Blakely KennethG .H oglund
Gordon'sp enchant for synthesis in mind, the turbulence that besets the late twentieth cen- ElizabethB loch-Smith DouglasA . Knight
tury engenders a deep desire for synthesis that transcends the requisite restraint of data JB.Pe t DsyrM es.sB erl yan GMlaorryiJa Lo aonnL deointh
collection. Above all, the impetus to communicate-to tell archaeology's story to a wider ErnestS .F rerichs JodiM agness
public, to deepen appreciation for the legacy of the ancient world-animates discourse at RonaldS .H endel GeraldL .M attingly
public meetings of the discipline and private conversations among colleagues. Whether RichardS .H ess GaetanoP alumbo
born of a sense of declining institutional support or negative reaction to the "popular"p re- PaulZ imansky
sentation of matters archaeological, it is our growing concern about effectively telling SubscriptionAs nnuals ubscriptionra tesa re$ 35
the story of the ancient world that Cyrus Gordon'sv oice foils so intensely. He was, by all fori ndividualsa nd $45f ori nstitutionsT. herei s a
accounts and in published word, a master storyteller.W e are, by all accounts, having dif- speciala nnualr ateo f $28f ors tudentst,h oseo ver
ficulties communicating. A65r,pc hhayesoiclaolgilsiycs a htl aslol aenvagieldao,b rl uean s pemarpto lof ytheedB . iblical
Satiricals ongwriter Tom Lehrero ffered advice decades ago (and available now on CD!) benefitso f someA SORm embershipca tegories.
to any caught in the communication miasma: "If you're having trouble communicating," Postagefo rC anadiana nd otheri nternational
advised Lehrer, "the very least thing you can do is to shut up." Not likely! And not addressesis an additiona$l 5.P aymentssh ould
exactly a constructive solution to Near Eastern archaeology's dilemma! be sent to ASORM embership/Subscriber
I suggest instead to begin at the base level of grammar.M ost manuscripts arrive at Bib- ServicesP, .OB. ox1 5399A, tlantaG, A3 0333-0399
licalA rchaeologisdtr essed in the passive voice. This voice says a lot about how archaeologists E(pMh:O4 0R4Y-7U27IV)-.I2 S3A4B5/M;it naesttS:e CrcHarOodrL dAerRsc Sa@nb e
conceive of themselves. Adopted from scientific literature, it portrays archaeologists as phonedi n.
objective experimenters and recorders of data. Adopted from older ethnographic writing,
it portrays archaeologists as detached observers. But despite the refinement of archaeo- Bcaalclikni sgSs uPeC s Busatcokmi sseurSe esrc vaincbe sea to 8b0t0a-in43ed7b- y6 69o2r
logical science, archaeologists will never be scientists. Despite the use of ethnographic writingS PC ustomerS ervicesP, O.B ox6 996,
analogies, we will never observe the behavior that correlates to the material we excavate AlpharettaG, A3 0239-6996.
nor interview live informants exhumed from the deepest of squares. PostmasterS enda ddressc hangest o Biblical
Archaeologists are fundamentally humanists investigating a human subject. In ArchaeologAisSt,O RM embership/Subscriber
place of the rhetoric of detachment, I urge a more complete acknowledgement of our- ServicesP, O.B ox1 5399A, tlantaG, A3 0333-0399.
selves. This may mean a renewed encounter with the force that drew most of us to Second-clasps ostagep aida t AtlantaG, Aa nd
archaeology in the first place, the desire to know a remote human world. What was life additionaol ffices.
and living like in the past? It will demand recovering or liberating our empathetic imag- Copyrigh?t 1996b y theA mericanS chools
inations, the key to our entry into lives long dead. More fully acknowledging oursleves of OrientaRl esearch.
also points in the direction of animated storytelling as the primary mode of archaeo- CorrespondencAe ll editoriacl orrespondence
logical presentation. andb ooksf orr eviews houldb e addressedt o
Archaeological storytelling empowered by our empathetic imaginations may (re-)kin- BiblicAalr chaeolog4i5st0 0M assachusettAs venue
dle our readers' interest in the results of our labors. Presented with subjects described NW,W ashingtonD,C 20016-569(0p h:2 02-885-
from an objective remove, can archaeology's audience be blamed if it transfers the 8co6m99);f.C aoxr:2 r0e2s-p8o8n5d-8en60cree5e m;g aaridld ihnogsup bkminiss@siocanisfso . r
impersonal portrayalt o the ancient actors themselves? What a tedious and lifeless lot most Arti-Factcsa nb e sentt o Brucea ndC arolyn
of our subjects must seem! RoutledgeD, epartemendt' histoireU, niversite
An active voice inspired by the empathetic imagination will both tell appropriately LavalS, te-FoyQ, uebecC, anadaG IK7 P4.
the story of who we archaeologists are and faithfully the story of who our ancient sub- AdvertisingC orrespondencseh ouldb e
jects were. addressedt o LeighA ndersonS, cholarsP ressP, O.
Naturally,t he stories into which we weave "silent"a rchaeological data cannot be tapes- Box1 5399A, tlantaG, A3 0333-039(9p h:4 04-727-
tries of fantasy. Archaeology must protect the integrity of the past that can be known, if 2327;f ax:4 04-727-234A8)d. s fort he sale
only partially.A nd the choice of narratived esign cannot be a matter of indifference.C learly, of antiquitiews ill not be accepted.
the grand narrativei s beyond our grasp.U nobtainable,t oo, is V G. Childe'ss tory of progress-
where none of history's troughs ever descends to the level of the preceding one and each BiblicaAl rchaeologi(sItS SN 0006-0895)i s published
quarterly( March,J une,S eptember,D ecember) by
crest out-tops its last height. Perhaps we can tell narratives of core and periphery, of
Scholars Press,8 19H ouston Mill Road NE,
dominance and resistance in the multi-cultural, power-brocaded reality of the world Atlanta,G A 30329,f or the American Schools of
system. This is a story palpably made available to us during the final throes of the twen- Oriental Research (ASOR),3 301N orth Charles
tieth and the first breaths of the twenty-first centuries. Street,B altimore,M D 21218P. rinted by Cadmus
Let us hope that honoring Cyrus Gordon as synthetic thinker and storyteller will JournalS ervices,B altimore,M D.
embolden BiblicaAl rchaeologistto seize the challenge of communicating the story of archae-
OF
ology in animated voice.
C4Q)
'iArtlL HtL9rr
Po o
o
D
(LI[czI~~czw'71
Qto
L-o
Portrait of
a
Master Scholar with
a
Global
Perspective
By MeirL ubetskia nd ClaireG ottlieb
ABBJI UDAHT HEP RINCEW, HEND ESCRIBITNHGE Q UALITIOEFST HE
eminent Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah, compared the
sage
to a perfumer who takes his chest with him and enters a
city. The townsfolk come out and inquire, "Have you
fine oil? Have you spikenard oil? Have you balsam oil?" CyrusH . Gordonp oses in 1983.
and find that he has everything [they require]. So it was
with R. Eleazar b. Azariah. When a disciple came to him
and inquired about Scripture he enlightened him, about The Early Years
Mishnah he enlightened him, about Midrash or halakoth Looking back, we ask ourselves what it was that created
or 3aggadohthe enlightenedh im. When the disciple departed the rare combination of scholarly gentleman, mentor, and
he left laden with [intellectual]w ealth and blessing (QAboth teacher par excellence, that characterizes Cyrus Gordon? A
D'Rabbi Nathan 25b). clue to the answer may be found in a story he shared with us.
He recalled that in addition to his basic secular education his
Every student of Cyrus H. Gordon (the authors included) father,D r.B enjamin L. Gordon,w anted him to acquire a good
has had the unique privilege of having studied under the religious education and enrolled him in the school at Con-
Rabbi Eleazar of our generation. Cyrus Gordon is a master gregation Mikve Israel, the present national landmark on
teacher whose erudition encompasses the entire scope of Independence Mall in Philadelphia. In addition to this, at
ancient studies, from the Near Eastern to the Classical the tender age of five, his father hired a private teacher,M r.
world and beyond. His command of all facets of a civilization, Abelson, to enhance his education in Hebrew and the bibli-
from its language to its history and culture, has made him a cal text. The child's curiosity was awakened by the biblical
phenomenon in a class of "one."W e have enjoyed his wisdom creation story,a nd he asked his teacherp enetrating questions
and friendshipf or more than two decades.T he longerw e know about creation, never accepting general ambiguous answers.
our teacher,a man faithful to his heritage,w ho is a combina- One evening, at dinner his father asked him what he had
tion of scholar and worldly gentleman, the more profound learned that day. "Oh father,"h e said, "I learned some mar-
is our admirationa nd love for him. He is a special teachera nd velous things today.I learned that babies grow inside women."
perhaps the founder of a school, having attained the "ism" Well,h is "Victorian"m other was shocked and wanted to dis-
attached to his surname during his lifetime. We studied with charge Mr.A belson immediately, but his father assured her
him in a constant state of awe and enthusiastically awaited that he would speak to the teacher and tell him that the lad
every class as we, along with his other students and devotees, was too young to learn about these delicate matters. The lit-
looked forward to hearing another "Gordonism." eral interpretationo f the biblical text could wait a little longer.
2 BiblicaAl rchaeolog5is9t: 1( 1996)
Roland G. Kent, a master of classics and Indo-European lin-
guistics, who also taught Old Persian. In addition, he took
graduatec ourses in HebrewA, ramaicA, rabicA, ssyrian,E thiopic,
Sumerian, Hittite, and Akkadian, along with comparative
Semitics. His interest was not limited to ancient languages
alone. He resolved to acquire proficiency in six European lan-
guages simultaneously and learned French, Italian, Spanish,
Portuguese, Dutch, and Norwegian by devoting one hour a
day to each language and then reading appropriate texts to
reinforceh is competence (Marblestone1 994:15V). eryf ew schol-
ars today can boast of such fortitude and erudition!
Although Gordon remembers all of his mentors as extra-
ordinary,h e considers James A. Montgomery (1866-1949)M, ax
Leopold Margolis (1866-1932),a nd William Foxwell Albright
(1891-1971)a s the triumvirate who influenced him most sig-
nificantly.
Montgomery
A special relationship was forged between Montgomery
and Gordon. The teacher treated the disciple as a son and
supervised his doctoral thesis, "RabbiniEc xegesisi n theV ulgate
of Proverbs."M ontgomery felt that with his background in
Hebrew, Classical, and Semitic languages, Gordon would be
able to understand Rabbinics. It was a difficult task, but if
Montgomery thought he was capable of completing it, Gor-
don was determinedt o fulfill his mentor'se xpectationsG. ordon
says,
When I accepted his suggestion that I write on the rab-
binic influences on Jerome'sw ritings,h e and I were echoing
a precious historic process: the collaborationo f Christians
Along with Max Margolisa nd W. E Albright,J amesA lan and Jews in probing the meaning of the Scriptures they
Montgomeryw as one of Gordon'sm ost significantm entors.G ordon shared and cherished (Gordon 1986:48).
wrote a "BAP ortrait"o n his teacher who "heads my brief list of
scholarsa nd gentlemen" (BA4 6:3 [1983]:187-189). This training influenced Gordon'sp hilosophy of teaching.
St. Jerome recognized the impracticability of working from
Mr. Abelson stayed on and his young disciple's search for translations and the need to read a text in the original. Not
the precise meaning of the biblicalt extn ever ceased.T his quest afraid of committing heresy, he met with Palestinian Rabbis
became his mission in life. In later years he would introduce at night,b enefiting from their knowledge and friendship.L ater,
one of his books with this cri de cceur( cry of the heart): "the as a teacherG, ordonw ould counsel his students to do as Jerome
truth of primary sources has a way of triumphing in due time did (and as he himself had done from his earliest childhood):
over the fallacies current in secondary literature" (Gordon find the most learned teachers, go to the original texts, and
1965:5). read the translations and commentaries only after the origi-
A Scholar'sE ducation nals had been mastered.
During his high school years the young Philadelphian Montgomery was a senior professor when young Gordon
studied Latina nd Greekt o prepareh imself for advanced stud- became his disciple in the mid-1920s.Y ears later,w hen Gor-
ies in college. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in don reached this status while teaching at NYU, he would
the autumn of 1924,m ajoring in Hebrew.A t the same time he say to his students,
studied at Gratz College, and in 1926h e graduated as a certi-
fied teacher of Hebrew and Judaica.H e received his A.B. in Montgomery taught me to think young and healthy Great
1927,h is M. A. in 1928,a nd completed his Ph.D. at the Uni- education and instruction are not necessarily realized
versity of Pennsylvania in 1930a t the ripe age of twenty-two. throughb ooks, but throughi ntimate contactw ith a teacher
While developing proficiencyi n the Semitic as well as the clas- over a period of time. Montgomery also advised a student
sical languages, he was privileged to study under such to develop proficiency in related disciplines since these
noted scholars as Solomon Zeitlin, who taught him Talmud, are usually the components that kindle creativity (private
Ephraim A. Speiser, who trained him in Assyriology, and conversation).
BiblicaAl rchaeolog5is9t: 1( 1996) 3
Margolis prodded by their intelligent, though illiterate,l ocal supervi-
Professor Margolis possessed an extraordinary bent for sors. In his role as recorderG ordon gave serial numbers to the
Northwest Semitic linguistics.U nder his tutelageG ordon pol- excavatedo bjects,m ade drawingso f them, and describedt hem.
ished his phenomenalc ommando f languagea nd comprehension The expedition at Tepe Gawra also provided an opportunity
of grammaticala nalysis. Margolis symbolized the epitome of for Gordon to improve his proficiency in the Nuzi dialect. He
a serious scholar who strives to read and understand texts requested copies of the Nuzi tablets from Chiera and while
in their original form and context. He also proclaimed that some of the other members of the expedition relievedt he bore-
while knowledge of secondary sources is important, the dom of the evening by card-playing and drinking, Gordon
ultimate authority is always the original text.M argolis'g reat- enlivened his nights with the reading of Nuzi texts.T his expe-
est strength lay in philological analysis of the Hebrew Bible. rience stood him in good stead as he later published many
In introducing his students to the fundamentals of Semitic articles on Nuzi grammar and culture and influenced many
grammar,h e skillfully reduced the basic principles of biblical of his students to pursue Nuzi studies. (See article by Martha
Hebrew grammar to several charts and formulae.T hese were Morrison in this issue.)
intended to be used in place of the standard grammarb ooks. Tell Billa is an unusually large mound where the archae-
The professor stressed the fact that the meaning of a word ologists dug up two Assyrian settlements, one dating to the
or phrase in a biblical passage depended on the contextr ather thirteenth and one to the ninth century BCEc,o rresponding to
than the authorityo f commentatorsa nd dictionaries.N ot only two distinct strata. The earlier strata yielded exciting and
was Gordoni mpressedb y this masterl inguist,b ut he embraced important data. The group unearthed some rare clay tablets
his approach completely and later transmitted it to genera- of the Middle Assyrian period that gave the name of TellB illa
tions of students. The mentor also became a living presence as Shibaniba, for the Nineveh gate opening onto the road to
in our classes as Gordon related the anecdotes that Margolis Tell Billa was called the Shibaniba gate in antiquity. A third
used to tell his own students. Pointing out to us that most of level was discovered to be Hurrian. Here excavatorsf ound a
what we acquire in a classroom is common knowledge, Gor- cylinder seal that was apparently a Hurrian heirloom as it
don would quoteh is reveredt eachers aying:' As your knowledge dated back to the fourth millennium BCET. his was a lesson
is common, please make sure that your ignorance is common for Gordon who learned that even in antiquity objects
and not private." could be handed down from generationt o generationf or hun-
dreds of years (Gordon 1957:54-5).
Experience as an Archaeologist In September 1931b, etween his first summer expedition
Gordon's education was not just in the field of acade- in Palestine and his first winter expedition in Iraq,G ordon
mics. He is perhaps the only living Near Easterna rchaeologist contributed to the study of Aramaic incantation bowls from
who worked in the field with most of the early pioneers of Talmudic Babylonia. The study took place at the Archaeo-
archaeological research.T hus he links our generation to the logical Museum in Istanbul.S ince then, he has published the
great scholars of the past. texts of incantation bowls that he has assembled from
When Gordon graduated, James Montgomery, who was museums on four continents.( See articleb y Edwin M.Y amauchi
president of ASOR, counseled him to go into archaeology. in this issue.)
During his years at the University Gordon had taken archae- The study of magic texts was augmented by the oppor-
ology courses with George Aaron Barton,w ho had made it tunity to live with the GnosticM andeanso f Iraqa nd the Yezidis,
clear to him that a person cannot learn archaeology from lec- who are known as "Devil Worshippers,"a nd learn about the
ture courses alone. Field experience was essential. So, after surviving religions. He also learned the fallacy of assuming
teaching graduate courses on Assyrian RoyalA nnals and the that the past is dead. Rather,t he past still lives in and with us,
Code of Hammurabi at the University of Pennsylvania from whether we recognize it or not. Living societies and ancient
1930 to 1931,G ordon decided to combine Warteru nd Sachen incantations can furnish an excellent synthesis for a young
(words and deeds), as advised by his professors Montgomery archaeologists eeking to understand the world of demons that
and Barton. He joined ASOR's expedition to Baghdad and many believe affect our daily lives.
Jerusalem as a field archaeologist and recorder.H e partici- WithA lbrighti n Palestine
pated in excavationsa t TellB illa and Tepe Gawra in Iraq,n ear Exploration in the Near East brought Gordon into close
ancient Nineveh, under the direction of Ephraim A. Speiser, contactw ith the most prominent names in the field. From 1931
and Beth-Zur and Tell Beit Mirsim in Palestine, under the to 1935 he excavated intermittently with William Foxwell
direction of William Foxwell Albright.'T epe Gawra had been Albright. His first assignment with Albright was at Beth-
a prehistoric fortress, and it was here that Gordon received Zur during the summer of 1931J. ust as Montgomery formed
training in neolithic and prehistorica rchaeology.T he tell was Gordon'sb road knowledge as a scholar and a humanist, and
composed of "a skyscraper"o f over twenty layers of stratifi- Margolis provided him with the excellent grammatical
cation, the latest occupation dating to the fifteenth century foundationn ecessary for future philological research,A lbright
and the earliest possibly dating from before the dawn of the now offered him the historical perspective of Near Eastern
fifth millennium. The value of this site was its stratification. and biblical studies. His association with Albright spanned
All of the digging was done by local laborers who were seven years (1931-38) and included, in addition to teaching
4 BiblicaAl rchaeolog5is9t: 1( 1996)
chronology of the pottery. Albright
was very generous in giving his time to
the novice excavators. He spent hours
every day explainingt he strataa nd phases
of the excavationa nd inducted the youth-
ful researchersi nto the most meticulous
ceramic research of the day. His know-
ledge of Palestinian topography and the
ceramics of the individual sites was
uncanny.
One of the boons of the TellB eit Mir-
sim campaign was the staff that Albright
had assembled.S ome of the young schol-
ars that Gordon had the opportunity
to work with were Nelson Glueck and
John Bright.A nother valuable outcome
of the Beth-Zure xperiencew as Gordon's
opportunity to meet Benjamin Mazar,
whose biblical knowledge was invalu-
able to the expedition. This was the
TellB eit Mirsimc amp (n.d.) and staff of the fourth field season in 1932. Standinga re (I.t o r.) beginning of an ongoing personal and
WilliamG ad (surveyor)C, yrusG ordon, A. HenryD etweiler (architect),J ohn Bright,W . F. professional friendship.2
Stinespring,E ugene Liggitt,V ernonB royles,a nd Aage Schmidt.S eated in front are: J. L. Kelso ProfessorA lbright'sc hance comment
(assistantd irector),W . F.A lbright( director),M . G. Kyle,a nd Nelson Glueck.G ordonh ad during the Beth-Zura rchaeologicale xca-
previouslyw orked with Albrighta t Beth Zur,a nd he attributedh is turn towards Ugaritic vation helped shape young Gordon's
studies to Albright'sa dvice. career." Everys tudent,"h e said, "would
do well to work on Ugaritic tablets."I n
later years Gordon would attribute his
leading position in Ugaritic studies to
the indelible impression of this advice.
Albright foresaw the inevitability of the
importance of Ugaritic to Old Testament
scholarship (Gordon 1986:54).
WithW oolley at Ur
During the early part of 1932G ordon
received a memorable assignment with
Major( laterS ir)C . LeonardW oolleyw, ho
was conductingo ne of his last campaigns
at Ur.W oolley needed an epigraphist to
read the Sumerian inscriptions he had
unearthed.G ordonw as summoned from
Tell Billa and Tepe Gawra and had the
good fortune to be present when the
royal tombs were still being unearthed.
He witnessed the laborers carrying
out objectso f lapis lazuli, gold, and other
precious gems from Sumerian burials
datingb ack to EarlyD ynastic times (2800
to 2300 BCE).T he graves yielded finds of
exquisiteb eauty such as elegantlys haped
vessels, golden helmets, shields, daggers
and research, an intimate contact with the archaeology of of the highest artistic craftsmanship and quality, as well as
Palestine. Gordon once remarked that he learned to have musical instruments (Gordon1 957:68-9)T. he artifactsb ore evi-
patience with students from Albright,w ho introduced him to dence of commercial and cultural connections with foreign
the painstaking aspects of ceramic research at Tell Beit Mir- countries at a very early period. Woolley'sf inds at Ur opened
sim, where the renowned archaeologist established a model up a great and new chapter in the history of Sumerian art,
BiblicaAl rchaeologi5s9t :1( 1996) 5
testifying to their highly developed culture (Gordon 1936:71). Christians and their subsequent massacre at the hands of the
The method Woolley employed to reconstructt he chronology Iraqi army.G ordon therefore remained in Palestine and had
of the burials is known as the "group method." He only the opportunity to join a small expedition led by William E
reckoned with graves that were at least five superimposed Albright. In November 1933t hey travelled to the site of Ader
one on the other. Assuming that the lower grave was the in Transjordan.T heir mission was to excavate a temple that
earlier burial he skillfully attempted to establish a chronol- dated from about 1800B CES. ince the expedition was so small,
ogy based on stratigraphice vidence. it was necessary for everyone to pitch in with all of the
WithP etrie in Philistia tasks.G ordon became one of the two cooks for the expedition,
Gordon'sP alestinian experiences with Sir Flinders Petrie a chore he had never done before or since (Gordon 1957:30).
exposed him to another approach to solving chronological Professionallyh, e supervised the excavationo f the BronzeA ge
problems. The British archaeologist theorized that ceramic area of the site.
typology and stylistic features of unearthed artifacts might WithG luecki n the CArabah
be clues to dating a stratum.G ordon considers Sir Flinders as In the spring of 1934G ordon joined Nelson Glueck on two
one of the greatest of the early archaeologists. Although he expeditions in Transjordan:t he biblical lands of Edom and
was not an academician, Gordon classifies him as an "origi- Moab.M ost of the travelingw as done on camel-back at a cost
nal genius." His vision to excavate the settlements in the of one dollar per day per camel. They slept in sleeping bags
Philistine plain, because the Philistines were Aegean masters in the open air and were protected from harm by the law of
of the jeweller'sa rt,p roved remarkables ince he found gold in the desert.A few days into the expedition, Glueck came down
staggering amounts. He had been digging with extraordinary with malaria-like symptoms. Since Gordon was the son of a
success at Tell el Ajjul, south of Gaza. The site was occupied physician,h e was considered the doctor of the group.H e diag-
during the Middle and LateB ronzeA ge.A mong the finds were nosed the patient,a nticipatedh is malariala ttacks,a nd treated
no less than five hundred scarabs eals of local Canaanitew ork- him with quinine. Glueck recovered (Gordon 1957:17-21).
manship from the Egyptian Empire period. But the most Glueck'sm ethod was to investigate the surface finds of many
sensational discovery was a vast hoard of gold objects that ancient sites from different periods and recreate the occu-
had been twisted into lumps by an ancients melterw ho intended pationalh istory of the entirea rea.T hus,t he single site excavation
to reuse the gold. Sir Flindersb ent the artifactsb ack into shape. system was supplemented by Glueck's regional survey. To
Of signal importance was a plaque of the Great Mother God- do this they rode the camels along the ancient routes and
dess, similar to the Ras-Shamra example. There were also recorded the old forts, settlements, and the caravansaries.I t
exquisite torque earrings that,a ccording to Petrie,w ere made became clear to the surveyors that in the Nabataean times the
of real Irish gold, known for its exceptional beauty (Gordon CArabahw as alive with commercial traffic,t hough later it was
1936:32)W. hat luck for the history of art that the smelter had deserted and lost importance.A t Khirbet Nahas and similar
not carried out his plan! sites Glueck and Gordon discovered large groups of smelting
Sir Flinders,w hile discussing the Telle l Ajjuls ite with Gor- ovens near mines of copper-bearings tone. Heaps of slag indi-
don, commented that only idiots came looking for the Bible cated that copper had been smelted there.A t the time Glueck
in Philistia. He maintained that archaeologists should know felt that he had found King Solomon'sm ines (Gordon1 957:20-
that where there is a high standard of spiritual living, there is 22; Pratico 1985).
a low level of materialp ossessions and vice versa.T his is why
he found the gold-and not the Bible-in Philistia. Gordon The University Years
believes that it was more than mere luck that led to the Although Gordon'se arly years in the field were satisfying,
finding of so much gold by one excavator. he decided to forgo his promising career in field archaeology
Frenchf rom the French and devote himself to teaching and research.W hile he wanted
After his short tour of duty with Woolley at Ur, Gordon to keep his hand in field work, he realized that with his aca-
returned to Tell Billa by train where he chanced to meet M. demic knowledge and archaeologicabl ackgroundh e had more
Andrd Parrot,a young French archaeologist who later made to offer as a teacher than as a "digger."D iscovering and deci-
spectacular discoveries at Mari on the Euphrates.S ince Gor- phering ancient texts was exciting, but their message had to
don'sk nowledge of Frenchw as limited to reading, and Parrot be conveyed to the next generation of scholars. The written
did not then speak English,t hey spent ten hours togetherc on- parchment, the clay tablet,a nd the hieroglyphic papyrus: all
versing in Arabic.A ware of his language deficiency, Gordon tell a story.E ven the mute potsherd could open its mouth to
decided to take the advice of his mother who always told him relate the history of bygone times. Gordon was in the forefront
that "anythingw orth doing was worth doing well" (Gordon of the scholarsw ho fathomed the meaning of the artifactsa nd
1941:Dedication page). That spring, during his break, he shared their findings with the academic community.
went to Parisa nd lived with a Frenchf amily in ordert o develop However,h is initiationi nto academiaw as not easy He had
fluency in French. to pay a heavy price in spiritual torment for trying to take his
Excavating at Ader place among the already established scholars whom he had
The ASOR excavations in Baghdad had to be suspended considered his mentors.T woi ncidents illustratet his point. The
for the year 1933-34 because of an uprising of the Assyrian first occurred in 1931 while he was still working as an
6 BiblicaAl rchaeologis5t 9:1 (1996)
archaeologist at TellB illa under the direction of his teacher of who, in the early decades of this century, had been reared
Assyriology, E.A . Speiser.G ordon wanted to prepare a begin- on the principles of isolationism. His world view permeated
ner'sm anual of Akkadianb ased on Hammurabi'sla ws. Speiser his future writings.
prohibitedt he undertakingu nder the pretextt hat "onlya senior The Road to Egyptology
scholar should write an elementary book in any field."S ince After the war Gordon returned to his native city,P hiladel-
he had already asked Speiser for his permission, Gordon phia,w here he became Professoro f Assyriologya nd Egyptology
did not want to oppose his authority.H e abandoned the pro- at Dropsie College, teaching there from 1946 to 1956.G or-
ject and determined that from that time onward he would not don's interest in Egyptology had been launched many years
seek the advice of any of his superiors on any project he previously while he was still a graduate student at the Uni-
intended to undertake (Gordon 1986:71). versity of PennsylvaniaA. t that time he decided that he needed
The second incident involved Albright, who had now a course in Egyptian to round out his knowledge of ancient
begun to devote himself to teaching and research and offered texts and enrolled in a course at Dropsie College taught by
Gordon a position as a teaching fellow at Johns Hopkins Uni- Nathaniel Reich, a specialist in Demotic. Cyrus Gordon and
versity from 1935t o 1938G. ordon was in the process of writing Samuel Noah Kramerw ere the only students taking the course.
his UgariticG rammaar manual designed for biblical scholars. The course lasted for three sessions, after which Gordon
He had begun the work in Sweden, where a fellowship of the continued to study Egyptian on his own. He succeeded so
American-Scandinavian Foundation had brought him and well that many years later he was appointed Reich'ss uccessor
affordedh im the opportunity to deepen his knowledge of the at Dropsie college. As Professor of Assyriology and Egyptol-
Scandinavian languages. Albright was displeased when Gor- ogy, Gordon taught at least one course in Egyptian every
don informed him that the work was already underway semester for ten years (privatec onversation).H e realized that
and would soon be published. The senior professor vehe- Egyptian was a significant link to understanding the cultural
mently opposed the project, telling Gordon that the task interrelationshipo f the communities of the Mediterraneanl it-
was presumptuous and impossible. When the ground-break- toral.I t was clear to him that Canaanitea nd Hebrew literature
ing opus was published by the Pontifical Biblical Institute in had roots in the Egyptian legacy,a nd Ugaritic literaturep ro-
1940 Albright, the "Dean of Biblical Studies," was gracious vided evidence of an Egypto-Semitic/Eteocretan [pre-Greek
enough to confess his mistake in print and hail the work as peoples of Crete] connection.T he fact that the assertion of the
an achievement of singular importance (Gordon 1986:54-5).3 interconnection of these three cultures altered the course of
Gordon'ss ubsequent publication of his three-volume Ugaritic biblical studies is now widely accepted.
Textbooikn 1965f urther opened the door to Ugaritics tudies for The Brandeis Years
many prospective scholars. The trilogy shed new light and In 1956G ordon moved on to Brandeis University, where
understanding on biblicali nterpretationa nd brought the rela- he was appointed Professor of Near Eastern Studies. Recog-
tionship of the Ugaritic language and literaturet o the Hebrew nizing Gordon'se rudition, gift for organization, and unique
Bible into full focus. approach, the University decided to inaugurate the Depart-
Albright's initial disapproval was the deciding factor in ment of MediterraneanS tudies under his chairmanshipT. here
Gordon'sd ecision to leave Johns Hopkins. In 1938h e moved he assembled a diverse staff of remarkablyt alented teachers
on to Smith College,w here he taught Hebrew and ancient his- and trained a cadre of future scholars in all the branches of
tory, though his primary task was preparing Sumerian and Mediterraneans tudies.H e had the satisfactiono f implementing
Babyloniant ablets in the college collection for publication.H e in the classroom the very ideas he had published:
was also a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at
Princeton. Old Testament Palestine was subject to many influences:
WorldW arI I Canaanite,E gyptian, Mesopotamian, Hittite,A rabian,e tc.
Gordon'st eaching careerw as interrupted by the outbreak It remains to add another majorf actor:t he Mediterranean.
of WorldW arI I.I n 1942-43h e served as an officeri n the United Standardb ooks such as ANETc ompletelyo mit the Mediter-
States Army Signal Corps. His major forte as a cryptographer ranean factor.T he Minoan, Mycenaean and Homeric texts
led to his work in the intelligence service. There he founded have every bit as much bearing on the OT,a s the religious,
America's first cryptanalytic unit to decipher the Near East economic and literaryt exts of Mesopotamia,A natolia and
intercepts in Arabic,T urkish,a nd Persian.A fter his unit had Egypt. Moreover,i t is precisely the Mediterranean factor
decoded all the Near East systems, Gordon requested service in the OT that links the Bible with the dawn of civilization
in the PersianG ulf Command.F rom1 943t o 1945h e was assigned in Europe (Gordon 1963).
to the Office of TechnicalI nformationw ith varied tasks includ-
ing advising the Commanding General on Near East affairs. Minoan Linear A
His service was invaluable to the military, and he is now a Gordon considers the identification of Minoan Linear A
colonel in the United States Air Force Reserve. as Northwest Semitic to be the most important breakthrough
The war experience reinforced Gordon'sp erception that of his career.M inoan had been on his mind since 1931w hen
all of the human race belongs to one world. While this may he took his first ocean voyage eastward.T he ship was passing
seem to be a banal notion today,i t was not clear to Americans the northern part of Crete. Standing on the deck, he told a
BiblicaAl rchaeolog5is9t: 1( 1996) 7
group of friends that he considered
the deciphermento f the Minoan inscrip-
tions to be the greatestc hallenget o future
scholars.E mbarrassedb y the chiding of
one of his friends who told him he
was talking like an adolescent, he did
not mention it again, but it was always
in the back of his mind. The impetus
to work on it came to him in 1952-3w hen
Michael Ventrisd eciphered Mycenaean
LinearB as Greek (privatec onversation;
see also Ventrisa nd Chadwick1 956)G. or-
don published the results of his research
on Minoan LinearA in 1957w ithout con-
sulting anyone.T he establisheds cholarly
communityc astd oubts on Gordon'sfi nd-
ings,c ausingu ndue delayi n the acceptance
of his identification of Minoan LinearA
as a Semitic language.G ordon'sM inoan
identification was reconfirmed by the
discovery of the Eteocretan-Greekb ilin-
guals fromD eros,C retei,n the early1 960s.4 An enormous cache of tablets-a commerciala rchive-fallen from their shelves and
(See articleb y GaryA . Rendsburgi n this uncovered in the excavationso f TellM ardikh( Ebla).G ordone stablishedt he Centerf or Ebla
issue.) Researcha t New YorkU niversityw here he had gone to teach in 1973.
The sea trip had reminded Gordon
that the Biblel ands are part of the Mediterraneanw orld. More- other Syrians ites in 1983H. e had alreadyc oncurredw ith other
over, the material findings in the archaeological excavations scholars that the language and culture of Ebla belonged to the
of Palestine,c limaxed by his Ugaritic studies, verified the fact Semitic grouping. Although many isoglosses connected the
that there was intercourse between the lands of the Greeks language to that of East SemiticA kkadian,G ordonn oted many
and the Hebrews from at least the second millennium. Gen- isoglosses connecting it to Northwest Semitic and even to
esis 9:27 and 10:2-5 demonstrate not only knowledge of Egyptian (Gordon 1990:127-391;9 92:1.).
Ionia and the Greek Isles,b ut also inform us that Japhethw as Retirement?
destined to be the ancestor of the Aegean world. Many of ProfessorG ordon's" official"r etirement came in 1989a t the
his later writings focused on the Hebrew-Greek nexus (Gor- age of 81,a nd he is now emeritus professor at both Brandeis
don 1965;s ee also article by Louis Feldman in this issue). University and New YorkU niversity. Actually Gordon has
In his work on Minoan, Gordon was following a pattern never considered himself retired and served as Visiting Pro-
that he would duplicate time and time again. He would pub- fessori n the Departmento f Asian Studies at DartmouthC ollege
lish his research, thereby disseminating his findings and during the spring of 1990.D uring the spring of 1993 he was
encouraging his disciples to further develop and refine the Visiting Professor of Maritime Civilizations at the University
theory,w hile he himself went on to "new horizons." of Haifa. He continues to lecture and publish insightful and
New YorkU niversity provocative articles on a regular basis.
Gordon taught at Brandeis until 1973 and then moved
on to New YorkU niversity as Professor of Hebraic Studies. Gordon as a Teacher
Always in the forefronto f the latestd evelopmentsi n the ancient As a teacher,C yrus Gordon stands in a league of his own.
Near East,h e soon inaugurated the Center for Ebla Research, He more than embodies all the characteristicsh e so admired
serving as its directorG. ordon realized that "Eblaitei s expand- in his distinguished teachers.H e gave his students the tools
ing our knowledge of the language and culture of the Holy to be able to be proficient in practically every area of ancient
Land back to the EarlyB ronzeA ge, a millennium beforeU garit, studies by providing courses in Akkadian, Egyptian, Cop-
and nearly a half millennium beforeM inoan"( Gordon1 994:18). tic, Aramaic, Sumerian, Hittite, Eblaite,N uzi Studies, Arabic,
All qualified scholars were invited to participatei n studies at Hebrew, and Ugaritic. Not only were his students equipped
the Ebla Center. to do in-depth work in their chosen areas of specialization,
In addition to the Ebla seminars,G ordon arrangeda nnual they were also enabled to navigate the related fields.
conferences at which prominent scholars in the field updated Gordon shared the fruits of his prolific mind with his stu-
the students and faculty on the progress of Ebla research.T he dents. He taught that the entire ancient world, its culture,
Center publishes the Eblaiticsae ries, of which three important art,a nd literaturei,n cluding the Hebrew Bible,w ere connected.
volumes have already appeared. Gordon visited Ebla and Since we now have a rich legacy of written material that ante-
8 BiblicaAl rchaeolog5is9t: 1( 1996)