Travels in Translation: Sea Tales at the Source of Jewish Fiction By Ken Frieden Syracuse University Press, 389 pages $29.95 For centuries, Jews dreamed of elaborate sea voyages. After the destruction of the Second Temple, in 70 C.E., and the ensuing exile, wandering became the norm, as did trade involving long distances. Pilgrimages to Israel…
Katy Blanchard of the University of Pennsylvania was kind enough to share the recipe she uses in order to make cuneiform cookies. 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon ground allspice 1 teaspoon ground cloves ½ teaspoon salt ½ cup unsalted butter ½ cup…
I grew up hearing the Code of Hammurabi read out loud, in Akkadian, at the dining-room table. I did not know that my graduate-student mother was one of Akkadian’s few regular readers. The language of the ancient Akkad region, or modern-day Iraq, is considered a “dead language,” just like Ugaritic and Phoenician. All these dead…
Cuneiform cookies? Yes, they are a thing. Though it has been centuries since Akkadian was spoken, cuneiform writing has had an unexpected burst of popularity as a cookie decoration. The idea started with Katy Blanchard, the Fowler/Van Santvoord Keeper of the Near Eastern Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, in…
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