Gorgias Press
Founded in 2001 Gorgias Press is an independent academic publisher of books and journals related to history, languages, and religious studies, with specific areas of expertise in the Ancient Near East, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Archaeology, Biblical Studies, Classics, Early Christianity, Jewish Studies, Linguistics, and Syriac.

Gorgias [GOR-gee-us] Press was originally created by George and Christine Kiraz as a specialty press that could keep up with their research interests. With a background in computational linguistics, George Kiraz envisioned combining cutting-edge technology with humanities research. The new company would be completely online, with no physical storefront, and it would use automation and digital printing technology rather than traditional print runs. With these tools, the press could afford to publish rare and understudied topics that were previously considered unprofitable, and Gorgias soon became known for its pioneering work in language and linguistics, religion, and especially Syriac and Eastern Christianity.
Gorgias’ philosophy of “Publishing for the Sake of Knowledge” rather than profit, attracted a number of new authors, and the press’ areas of interest rapidly began to expand. Today, Gorgias Press publishes 50-60 new titles a year, including monographs, edited volumes, translations, and more, and Gorgias books can be found in academic collections all over the world.
The Akītu Festival Cover The Akītu Festival Cover
Format: 
Pages: 236
ISBN: 9781593331580
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Near Eastern Studies
Pages: 232
ISBN: 9781463202651
Pub Date: 13 Mar 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Near Eastern Studies
Description:
The akītu festival is one of the oldest recorded religious festivals in the world, celebrated for several millennia throughout ancient Mesopotamia. Yet, the akītu was more than just a religious ceremony; it acted as a political device to ensure the supremacy of the king, the national god, and his capital city. Using tools of social anthropology and ritual analysis, this book presents a detailed reconstruction of the festival events and its attendant rituals to demonstrate how the festival became a propagandistic tool wielded by the monarchy and ruling classes.
Six Months in a Syrian Monastery Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 446
ISBN: 9781593331528
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This is an expert description of the Syrian Orthodox Church and all the more important for being practically the only book of its kind, even now. Parry is among the best writers in the genre of ecclesiastical tourism.
The Seven Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World (vol. 3) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 802
ISBN: 9781593331719
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
In 1862, George Rawlinson published his The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World. Later, he published his The Sixth Great Oriental Monarcy (1873) on Parthi, and The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy (1876) on Sassania. This new reissue brings together all three volumes and includes 758 woodcut engravings.
Ritual Dynamic Structure Cover Ritual Dynamic Structure Cover
Format: 
Pages: 398
ISBN: 9781593332297
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Studies in Religion
Pages: 420
ISBN: 9781463204006
Pub Date: 14 Jul 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Studies in Religion
Description:
The present work takes up the neglected quest for a theory of ritual and methodology of analysis that recognizes and traces the contours of ritual dynamic structure. The resulting fresh approach provides a controlled framework for interpreting rituals belonging to various cultures and for identifying bases of comparison between them. The first part of ritual dynamic structure builds a theory and definition of ritual and a corresponding methodology for analyzing specific rituals in terms of their activities and the meanings attached to those activities.
Nineveh and Its Remains (vol 1) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 474
ISBN: 9781593331283
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This book describes the discovery of Assyrian sites in Nineveh by interspersing journeys and descriptions of people and places with accounts of archaeological discoveries. Layard's romantic view of the countryside and people blends with his rediscovery of Assyria.
Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels (Vol 3) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 528
ISBN: 9781593331627
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This new edition conveniently provides the text of all three versions of the Syriac Gospels in one place for the first time. Drawn from the best sources, they are carefully aligned so that their inter-relationship can immediately be seen and studied.
Midrash and Legend: Historical Anecdotes in the Tannaitic Midrashim Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 678
ISBN: 9781593331276
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Studies in Judaism
Description:
This study applies form criticism to the stories of the earliest rabbinic midrashim. The results shed light on the literary personalities of the individual midrash collections and the relationships of transmission in the tradition. These stories are of particular interest from an inter-religious and comparative literary point of view because New Testament studies have often referred to certain narratives in the gospels as "midrashic.
Central Sanctuary and Centralization of Worship in Ancient Israel Cover Central Sanctuary and Centralization of Worship in Ancient Israel Cover
Format: 
Pages: 396
ISBN: 9781593331573
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Near Eastern Studies
Pages: 403
ISBN: 9781463203689
Pub Date: 27 Aug 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Near Eastern Studies
Description:
This book provides the first major reinvestigation and reinterpretation of the history of centralization of worship in ancient Israel since de Wette and Wellhausen in the nineteenth century. Old Testament scholarship has thus far relied on the consensus that the book of Deuteronomy is the product of late monarchic Judah (7th century BC). Pitkanen places the biblical material in its archaeological and ancient Near Eastern context and pays special attention to rhetorical analysis.
Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels (Vol 1-4) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 1760
ISBN: 9781593332570
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This new edition conveniently provides the text of all three versions of the Syriac Gospels in one place for the first time. Drawn from the best sources, they are carefully aligned so that their inter-relationship can immediately be seen and studied.
Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels (Vol 1) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 566
ISBN: 9781593331603
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This new edition conveniently provides the text of all three versions of the Syriac Gospels in one place for the first time. Drawn from the best sources, they are carefully aligned so that their inter-relationship can immediately be seen and studied.
Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels (Vol 2) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 272
ISBN: 9781593331610
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This new edition conveniently provides the text of all three versions of the Syriac Gospels in one place for the first time. Drawn from the best sources, they are carefully aligned so that their inter-relationship can immediately be seen and studied.
Amurath to Amurath: A Journey Along the Banks of the Euphrates Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 498
ISBN: 9781593331535
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
Gertrude Bell, the well-known explorer and archaeologist, began her extensive travels in the Near East in 1892. In her trips, she surveyed and photographed the areas which she visited and investigated archeological sites.
Comparative Edition of the Syriac Gospels (Vol 4) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 394
ISBN: 9781593331634
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This new edition conveniently provides the text of all three versions of the Syriac Gospels in one place for the first time. Drawn from the best sources, they are carefully aligned so that their inter-relationship can immediately be seen and studied.
Descriptive List of Syriac and Karshuni Manuscripts in the British Museum Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 64
ISBN: 9781593331559
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This is a catalogue of Syriac and Karshuni manuscripts purchased by the British Museum by W. Budge in 1889 and 1890 at Mosul, Alkosh, and the Tiari district. This is the sequal to Wright's Catalogue of the Syriac manuscripts in the British Meuseum, also available from Gorgias Press.
Eastern Liturgies Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 710
ISBN: 9781593331184
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
In one volume, this classic in liturgical studies brings together the main types of Eucharistic liturgy of the various Eastern Christian Churches. For more than a century it has been a reference for students and scholars in comparative liturgy.
Epistolarity in the First Book of Horace's Epistles Cover Epistolarity in the First Book of Horace's Epistles Cover
Format: 
Pages: 241
ISBN: 9781593331177
Pub Date: 01 Jan 2004
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Studies in Classics
Pages: 249
ISBN: 9781463203931
Pub Date: 14 Jul 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Studies in Classics
Description:
De Pretis’s book focuses on the epistolary features of Horace’s First Book of Epistles, reading them from points of view related to the epistolary form: the weight of the addressee; the dialogue between literary genres; the poet's self-representation; temporality; and the power of the author. These issues also pertain to literature as such, since all literature can be regarded, to a certain degree, as "epistolary." But the extent and consistency with which the Epistles explore epistolary aspects, can only be explained in terms of their generic affiliation.