DailyHebrew.com

A good article particularly focusing on the early history of the Oriental Institute is online.  It focuses mainly on the expeditions in the eastern half of the Fertile Crescent. 

I'm a PC.  But on a day when Apple introduces an exciting new product, it is difficult not to peer on with interest and even a bit of glee.  By combining features of the netbook and the Kindle, the iPad is primed to launch the tablet into the mainstream.  That said, one thing I found extremely interesting about the aforementioned device is its physical form.

Does this remind you of something else?

(Cornell University Library)

Notice that the beveled back and flat front are analogous to that of the cuneiform tablet.  Unlike the molded plastic, glass, and aluminum of the iPad, the clay tablet's shape is determined pragmatically by the conditions of its composition—upon completion, a tablet typically was left to dry with the recto (i.e. the reverse) facing upwards, thus gravity would pull the edges downward forming the characteristic shape of a flat front side and curved back.  It should be noted, though, that Steve Jobs is not the first to copy this shape in a non-clay medium, imitations of the distinctive contour were made in stone and bronze in the ancient near east, and now it has been replicated in the iPad three millennium after the extinction of the original form.  Let no one say that cultural memory is short! 

Now if only the Apps store had a copy of the Ba'al Cycle…

Along with a translation, a copy of the text  is provided at EurekAlert!

View the previous DH.com posts here.

(HT: agade)

For an overview of the inscription and site report from Hebrew University, see the Tell es-Safi/Gath blog.  Further comments on the inscription may be found at Ancient Hebrew Poetry.

(see previous DH post on the inscription)

The top ten archaeological discoveries according to Biblical Archaeology Review are overviewed in the most recent edition.