Northwest Semitic Inscriptions

(3 Credits)

During the early first millennium BCE, we find increasing quantities of written finds in the greater Levant, in varieties of ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician, the "Northwest Semitic" languages. This seminar addresses basic skills for recognizing script types and development and for reconstructing the shape of each language in this period, when the texts are only partly vocalized, at best. The semester concludes with selected readings that have larger historical and cultural interest.