Âé¶¹Ö±²¥

UNEARTHING THE PAST SINCE 1900

Ongoing Updates: We’re currently fixing unexpected design-related issues on our website. We apologize for any features that may be temporarily unavailable at this time. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

[vc_row fullwidth=”true” attached=”true” css=”.vc_custom_1496247803139{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”91217″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row fullwidth=”true” css=”.vc_custom_1496682730308{padding-top: 10px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/12″ css=”.vc_custom_1496683820796{margin-right: 10px !important;}” offset=”vc_hidden-md vc_hidden-sm vc_hidden-xs”][vc_column_text]

Ìý³§±á´¡¸é·¡

[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/social-fb-icon4.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”https://www.facebook.com/Âé¶¹Ö±²¥esearch/” margin_bottom=”0″][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/social-tw-icon4.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”https://twitter.com/Âé¶¹Ö±²¥esearch?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor” margin_bottom=”0″][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/social-in-icon4.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”https://www.linkedin.com/company/american-schools-of-oriental-research” margin_bottom=”0″][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/social-ml-icon_7.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”mailto:info@asor.org” margin_bottom=”0″][mk_image src=”http://www.asortest.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/blog-icon3.jpg” image_width=”42″ image_height=”42″ hover=”false” custom_url=”https://asor.org/blog” margin_bottom=”0″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496683923840{margin-right: 20px !important;border-left-width: 2px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;border-left-color: #99422f !important;}”][mk_divider divider_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.01)” thickness=”1″ margin_top=”3″ margin_bottom=”3″][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”ca-sidebar-39801″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1487276122024{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 30px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text responsive_align=”left”]

FRIENDS OF Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ WEBINARS

Who Really Invented the Alphabet?

[/vc_column_text][mk_divider][vc_single_image image=”91381″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” img_link_target=”_blank” link=”https://members.asor.org/commerce/store?productId=Âé¶¹Ö±²¥-SETH-SANDERS-WEBINAR-AUGUST-31-2023-MEMBERS”][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][vc_wp_text]Friends of Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ present the first webinar in the 2023-2024 season on August 31 2023, at 3:00 pm EDT, featuring Prof. Seth Sanders moderated by Prof. Samuel Boyd.Ìý Who really invented the alphabet? Despite its vast influence, we are still uncertain about precisely where the world’s most influential communication system came from. One reason for this uncertainty is that debate about the alphabet’s origins has tended to focus on questions for which there is no clear evidence–the personal identity, social status, and educational background of the inventor/s, on the one hand, and the exact date of its invention on the other. What we do know for sure about the early alphabet’s background is linguistic and material: it is widely agreed that it was created by speakers of West Semitic language ancestral to Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic. And as you can see from the illustration, its letters were closely based on what Egyptian hieroglyphic signs looked like.

But there is another—basically unexplored—avenue that can reveal surprisingly precise information about what the early alphabet’s creators drew on and how they were trained. Because in fact there is ample evidence about what knowledge the earliest alphabetic writers did and did not draw on. First, if the alphabet’s inventors drew on what Egyptian signs looked like, did they know, or care, what they sounded like? That is, is there any evidence that they knew how the Egyptian writing system actually worked? Second is whether anyone was professionally trained in the early alphabet: was it systematized and taught carefully, the way a scribe would, or casually and unevenly transmitted, like a game or informal craft tradition?

This talk will present new evidence for a strictly visual, rather than Egyptian-scribal-based linguistic basis for the alphabet’s origins, and for its informal use by non-scribal—and perhaps also scribal–users during its first 500 years. This evidence for the success of a new sort of non-scribal writing system outside of bureaucratic centers has historical analogies in the spread and development of the Greek alphabet and can help us reflect on the role of play and craft traditions in the invention and spread of new cultural phenomena. The webinar will conclude with a live Q&A session moderated by Prof. Samuel Boyd of the University of Colorado Boulder.Ìý

Seth L. Sanders is an expert in the languages and cultures of the ancient Levant, from Ugaritic and Amorite to Hebrew and Aramaic. He has edited or coedited studies of the cuneiform texts from Israel and Palestine, writing in the ancient Near East, and ancient Jewish sciences, as well as writing two books, The Invention of Hebrew and From Adapa to Enoch: Scribal Culture and Religious Vision in Judea and Babylon. His current work, which has been supported by the NEH and the Guggenheim Foundation, is on a new approach to the composition of the Hebrew Bible, including the first open-access presentation of the sources of the Pentateuch beginning with the Priestly Work at pentateuch.digital. He is also interested in ancient and modern poetic and liturgical performance of religious texts from The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice to Black Sabbath. He currently teaches at UC Davis and will join Dalhousie University as McLeod Professor of Classics in Fall 2024.

To purchase a recording of this webinar please visit the .



Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Sustaining Members: $0 | Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Members: $6 | Public: $12
Season Pass: Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Sustaining Members: $0 | Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Members: $75 | Public: $150

Please e-mail membership@asor.org with any questions or issues with registering.

All proceeds from this webinar are used to fund scholarships for members as well as increasing Âé¶¹Ö±²¥’s online resources, which are free to the public.

[/vc_wp_text][mk_divider][vc_wp_text]

READY FOR A WEBINAR SEASON PASS?

Buy a season pass for all the webinars* of the 2023-2024 FOA Webinar Season! With a season pass, you will automatically be registered for every webinar in the season, and you will receive the recording of each webinar automatically after the event.

If you have missed webinars earlier in the season and still want to buy the pass, you will receive the links to the recordings of the webinars you missed in your automatic confirmation email after you buy the pass.

*Special symposiums may be excluded from the season pass price.

No more registering for a year if you buy your pass today!

Pricing:

Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Sustaining Members: $0 (automatic registration for each webinar)
Members: $75
Public: $150

Not a member yet? and receive the 50% off a season pass!

Please e-mail membership@asor.org if you have any questions or issues.

[/vc_wp_text][mk_divider][vc_wp_text]

SPONSOR A WEBINAR!

Several levels of support from $50-$1,000 are available. Proceeds go towards membership scholarships and towards increasing Âé¶¹Ö±²¥â€™s virtual resources. Each sponsorship is tax-deductible and you can give your friends free registrations to a webinar!

Bronze Level ($50): up to 2 guest registrations
Silver Level ($100): up to 5 guest registrations
Gold Level ($500): up to 20 guest registrations
Platinum Level ($1,000): up to 50 guest registrations

WHY SPONSOR ONLY ONE?

Season Sponsorships areÌýalsoÌýavailable from the Ìý

Bronze level: $750
Silver level: $1,500
Gold level: $2,500
Platinum level: $5,000
Diamond level: $10,000

Click here for more information on the benefits of becoming a season sponsor or sponsoring a single webinar.

After you sign up for a sponsorship online or over the phone, email the names and email addresses of your guests to Katherine Schmitt atÌýmembership@asor.org, who will send your guests a confirmation and the Zoom link before the webinar.[/vc_wp_text][mk_divider][vc_wp_text]

WANT TO SAVE $6.00 ON THE NEXT WEBINAR?

Join Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ as a member!ÌýClick here for more details about discounts for events and other benefits of membership. Memberships start at $40 for the year as an Associate Member.

Not ready to join yet? Become a Friend of Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ for FREE!

Click here for more details about our online resources.[/vc_wp_text][mk_divider][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”ca-sidebar-76362″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684098866{margin-right: 5px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 10px !important;padding-left: 10px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_wp_posts title=”BROWSE THE NEWS ARCHIVE” number=”4″][/vc_column][vc_column border_color=”rgba(170,170,170,0.01)” width=”1/6″ css=”.vc_custom_1496684008271{margin-right: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 30px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 20px !important;padding-left: 20px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-right-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;border-bottom-color: rgba(227,228,228,0.75) !important;}”][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Leave a Reply