Alan Millard
Encyclopedia
Alan Ralph Millard is Rankin Professor Emeritus of Hebrew
and Ancient Semitic Languages
, and Honorary Senior Fellow (Ancient Near East), at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology (SACE) in the University of Liverpool
.
Millard worked on excavations at Tell Nebi Mend (ancient Qadesh-on-the-Orontes
) and Tell Rif'at (ancient Arpad
) in Syria
, at Petra
in Jordan
, and at the Assyria
n capital Nimrud
(ancient Kalḫu) in Iraq
. While working at the British Museum 1961-1964, he rediscovered the Epic of Atrahasis
, which had lain unrecognised in a drawer for some decades. From 1964 to 1970 he was Librarian at Tyndale Library, Cambridge, and taught Akkadian
for a year at the School of Oriental and African Studies
(SOAS) in the University of London
. In 1970 he was appointed Rankin Lecturer in Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages at Liverpool. He was a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
in 1984, studying in a team led by Yigael Yadin
. His main interest lies in Semitic epigraphy
, and in editing Akkadian cuneiform
tablets and Aramaic
inscriptions. Scribal practices in the ancient Near East
remain a dominant concern for him; the importance he ascribes to this topic stems largely from his belief as an Evangelical Christian
in the essential historicity of the Bible
- a point of view he shares with his colleague at Liverpool, the Egyptologist
Kenneth Kitchen
.
Millard is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
, a member of the Society for Old Testament Studies - and was also, until recently, Vice-Chairman of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq
.
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and Ancient Semitic Languages
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
, and Honorary Senior Fellow (Ancient Near East), at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology (SACE) in the University of Liverpool
University of Liverpool
The University of Liverpool is a teaching and research university in the city of Liverpool, England. It is a member of the Russell Group of large research-intensive universities and the N8 Group for research collaboration. Founded in 1881 , it is also one of the six original "red brick" civic...
.
Millard worked on excavations at Tell Nebi Mend (ancient Qadesh-on-the-Orontes
Kadesh
This article is about Kadesh in the lands of the Amurru, bordering on Damascus Syria up to Hammath; see also Kadesh or Kedesh Kadesh was an ancient city of the Levant, located on or near the headwaters or ford of the Orontes River...
) and Tell Rif'at (ancient Arpad
Arpad (Syria)
Arpad was an ancient Aramaean city located in north-western Syria, north of Aleppo. In 743 BC, the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III led a military expedition to Syria, defeating there the Uraratian army. But the city of Arpad, which had formed an alliance with Urartu, did not surrender easily...
) in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, at Petra
Petra
Petra is a historical and archaeological city in the Jordanian governorate of Ma'an that is famous for its rock cut architecture and water conduits system. Established sometime around the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans, it is a symbol of Jordan as well as its most visited...
in Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, and at the Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n capital Nimrud
Nimrud
Nimrud is an ancient Assyrian city located south of Nineveh on the river Tigris in modern Ninawa Governorate Iraq. In ancient times the city was called Kalḫu. The Arabs called the city Nimrud after the Biblical Nimrod, a legendary hunting hero .The city covered an area of around . Ruins of the city...
(ancient Kalḫu) in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. While working at the British Museum 1961-1964, he rediscovered the Epic of Atrahasis
Atra-Hasis
The 18th century BCE Akkadian epic of Atra-Hasis is named after its protagonist. An "Atra-Hasis" appears on one of the Sumerian king lists as king of Shuruppak in the times before the flood. The Atra-Hasis tablets include both a creation myth and a flood account, which is one of three surviving...
, which had lain unrecognised in a drawer for some decades. From 1964 to 1970 he was Librarian at Tyndale Library, Cambridge, and taught Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
for a year at the School of Oriental and African Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies
The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
(SOAS) in the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
. In 1970 he was appointed Rankin Lecturer in Hebrew and Ancient Semitic Languages at Liverpool. He was a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
in 1984, studying in a team led by Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin
Yigael Yadin on 21 March 1917, died 28 June 1984) was an Israeli archeologist, politician, and the second Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.-Early life and military career:...
. His main interest lies in Semitic epigraphy
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
, and in editing Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform script
Cuneiform script )) is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BC, with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium , cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs...
tablets and Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
inscriptions. Scribal practices in the ancient Near East
Ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia , ancient Egypt, ancient Iran The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia...
remain a dominant concern for him; the importance he ascribes to this topic stems largely from his belief as an Evangelical Christian
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
in the essential historicity of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
- a point of view he shares with his colleague at Liverpool, the Egyptologist
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Kitchen
Kenneth Anderson Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, England...
.
Millard is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London
Society of Antiquaries of London
The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...
, a member of the Society for Old Testament Studies - and was also, until recently, Vice-Chairman of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq
British School of Archaeology in Iraq
The British Institute for the Study of Iraq is the only body in Britain devoted to research into the ancient civilizations and languages of Mesopotamia....
.
Publications
- Atrahasis: The Babylonian Story of the Flood (with W.G. Lambert), Clarendon Press, Oxford (1969); reprinted Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, ISBN 1-57506-039-6 (1999)
- Daniel 1-6 and History (1977)
- La Statue de Tell Fekherye et son inscription bilingue assyro-araméenne (with A. Abou-Assaf and P. Bordreuil), Association pour la diffusion de la pensée française, Paris (1982) Reprinted as:
- Discoveries from the Time of Jesus (1990)
- The Eponyms of the Assyrian Empire, 910-612 BC, State Archives of Assyria Studies 2, The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus ProjectNeo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project-State archives of Assyria cuneiform texts:The following works are published in the series: State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts:*1997–SAACT-Volume I..---The Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, by Simo Parpola, 1997....
, University of Helsinki (1994) - The Knowledge of Writing in Iron Age Palestine (1995)
- Discoveries from Bible Times, Lion Publishing, Oxford (1997)
- Dictionary of the Ancient Near East (edited, with Piotr Bienkowski), British Museum Press, London (2000)
- Reading and Writing in the Time of Jesus, Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield (2000)
External links
- Research Interests & Publication List from SACE website
- Bibliography
- The Alphabet: Its Creation and Development - appearance on the BBC Radio 4 discussion programme 'In Our Time' (2003)
- Did Christ Leave a Paper Trail? - text of an interview with Millard (2004)
- Writing and Ancient Near East Society: Papers in Honour of Alan R. Millard - a review in Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 7 (2007) of this festschriftFestschriftIn academia, a Festschrift , is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during his or her lifetime. The term, borrowed from German, could be translated as celebration publication or celebratory writing...
, edited by Piotr Bienkowski, Christopher Mee and Elizabeth Slater, New York and London (2005)