This volume is the first of its kind to offer a detailed, monographic treatment of Semitic genealogical classification. The introduction describes the author's methodological framework and surveys the history of the subgrouping discussion in Semitic linguistics, and the first chapter provides a detailed description of the proto-Semitic basic vocabulary. Each of its seven main chapters deals with one of the key issues of the Semitic subgrouping debate: the East/West dichotomy, the Central Semitic hypothesis, the North West Semitic subgroup, the Canaanite affiliation of Ugaritic, the historical unity of Aramaic, and the diagnostic features of Ethiopian Semitic and of Modern South Arabian. The book aims at a balanced account of all evidence pertinent to the subgrouping discussion, but its main focus is on the diagnostic lexical features, heavily neglected in the majority of earlier studies dealing with this subject. The author tries to assess the subgrouping potential of the vocabulary using various methods of its diachronic stratification. The hundreds of etymological comparisons given throughout the book can be conveniently accessed through detailed lexical indices.

The first half of the proceedings, Language in the Ancient Near East (in 2 parts), is available here. A workshop volume is available here. The topic of the meetings in St. Petersburg portion of the 53e RAI was, as the title indicates, city administration. Of the 19 papers published in this volume, 2 are based on plenary, opening papers; 16 discuss various aspects of administration from very early times in geographic regions stretching from the extreme south of Mesopotamia, through the middle and upper Euphrates, to Ugarit; and 3 discuss labor and professions in the Ur III period.

This is the sixth volume of Babel und Bibel, an annual of ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. The principal goal of the annual is to reveal the inherent relationship between Assyriology, Semitics, and biblical studies-a relationship that our predecessors comprehended and fruitfully explored but that is often neglected today. The title Babel und Bibel is intended to point to the possibility of fruitful collaboration among the three disciplines, in an effort to explore the various civilizations of the ancient Near East. The tripartite division of Babel und Bibel corresponds to its three principal spheres of interest: ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. Contributions are further subdivided into articles, short notes, and reviews. Highlights of this volume include several studies on Akkadian language, Mesopotamian literature, and publication of inscriptions in some Russian museums (in the ancient Near Eastern section); studies on negative markers in Semitic and on Aramaic language (in the Semitics section); and some significant review essays on important new publications, especially in Hebrew language, Aramaic, Hurrian, Lycian, Egyptian, and Syriac.

This is the ninth volume of Babel und Bibel, an annual of ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. The principal goal of the annual is to reveal the inherent relationship between Assyriology, Semitics, and biblical studies-a relationship that our predecessors comprehended and fruitfully explored but that is often neglected today. The title Babel und Bibel is intended to point to the possibility of fruitful collaboration among the three disciplines, in an effort to explore the various civilizations of the ancient Near East. This volume includes as a major portion of its contents selected papers from the 6th Biannual Meeting of the International Association for Comparative Semitics.

This is the seventh volume of Babel und Bibel, an annual of ancient Near Eastern, Old Testament, and Semitic studies. The principal goal of the annual is to reveal the inherent relationship between Assyriology, Semitics, and biblical studies—a relationship that our predecessors comprehended and fruitfully explored but that is often neglected today. The title Babel und Bibel is intended to point to the possibility of fruitful collaboration among the three disciplines, in an effort to explore the various civilizations of the ancient Near East.

The second half of the proceedings, City Administration in the Ancient Near East, is available here. A workshop volume is available here. In July 2007, the 53rd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (the annual meeting of the International Association of Assyriologists) was held in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. In Moscow, several hundred Assyriologists enjoyed the hospitality of the Russian State University for the Humanities. Dozens of papers on the topic "Language in the Ancient Near East," were delivered at the University. More than 50 of those papers are published in this 2-volume set.