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.

al-Machriq (Vol 25) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 1025
ISBN: 9781617199684
Pub Date: 24 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
al-Machriq was an Arabic-French periodical focused on Eastern Christian and Islamic topics in the Arab world. This Gorgias reprint will make widely available a rare resource for scholars of Eastern Christianity, Islam, and modern Arabic thought.
al-Machriq (Vol 24) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 1019
ISBN: 9781617199677
Pub Date: 24 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
al-Machriq was an Arabic-French periodical focused on Eastern Christian and Islamic topics in the Arab world. This Gorgias reprint will make widely available a rare resource for scholars of Eastern Christianity, Islam, and modern Arabic thought.
Simple and Bold Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 459
ISBN: 9781463203887
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
Ephrem the Syrian is known as one of the greatest Christian poets and as a unique author whose mode of thought is usually described as “symbolic.” In this work, Kees den Biesen explores the literary, intellectual, and theological mechanisms at work in Ephrem’s writings with the specific aim of identifying the exact nature of his “symbolic thought” and evaluating its contemporary relevance. Den Biesen elaborates a comprehensive approach that integrates a variety of methods into a genuinely theological methodology.
Haredi Male Bodies in the Public Sphere Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 38
ISBN: 9781463201210
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
This paper explores the Israeli Haredi community’s social construction of the male body.
Bishop Lists Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 282
ISBN: 9781463202668
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
Early lists of bishops, identified by Walter Bauer as "literary propaganda," mark critical points in the development of the doctrine of the apostolic succession of bishops. This study delves into the political struggles surrounding the lists and the doctrine they served to define. Ecclesiastical politics in each case reflects the threat to the bishop's authority and clarifies the meaning of apostolic succession in the Church's development.
Teacher of Holiness Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 245
ISBN: 9781463202682
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This book, on the pneumatology of Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, illustrates the centrality of the Holy Spirit for his theological project. As both God's exitus into the world and humanity's reditus to God, the Spirit forms the crucial link between Origen's doctrine of God and his spiritual anthropology. Origen's images for the Holy Spirit, understood in the context of second century concepts of 'spirit,' convey the intersection of theology and anthropology in his thought.
Wisdom at Qumran Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 348
ISBN: 9781463203696
Pub Date: 12 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
This study provides background on wisdom forms, the key Qumran sectarian texts, and wisdom studies related to the Dead Sea Scrolls. 4QInstruction includes poetic discourses, hymnic material, and short wisdom sayings and admonitions. A major focus is placed on the admonitions, which are discussed in terms of their structure, wisdom forms, and setting.
The Syriac Book of Steps 3 Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 271
ISBN: 9781593339814
Pub Date: 04 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
The Syriac Book of Steps collects 30 sermons by a late 4th century anonymous author in the Persian Empire. The author details the spiritual life, highlighting the duties and problems of two ranks of committed Christians, the Upright and the Perfect.
YHWH Fights for Them! Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 328
ISBN: 9781463202712
Pub Date: 02 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
The divine warrior is an important motif in the Old Testament, leading many to study profitably the motif in its most prominent manifestations in poetic texts. This study builds on that foundation by examining the divine warrior in detail in the exodus narrative to construct a broader picture of the motif in the Old Testament.
Engraved on Stone Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 301
ISBN: 9781463201678
Pub Date: 02 Jun 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Studies in the Ancient Near East
Description:
Cylinder seals were important instruments in the Ancient Near East, and were used in Mesopotamia from the beginning of the third millennium BCE to the fifth century BCE. This volume presents an analysis of 1000 cylinder seals (including 70 that are not yet published) from the Old Babylonian period, including the Isin and Larsa dynasties, and uses this analysis as well as data from written texts of the period to answer questions relating to the seal cutters and the production of the seals.
New Studies in the Book of Isaiah Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 298
ISBN: 9781463203566
Pub Date: 14 May 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Perspectives on Hebrew Scriptures and its Contexts
Description:
This volume contains twelve articles that shed new light on the Book of Isaiah, covering a wide array of historical, linguistic and theological topics. The various aspects of God’s intervention at different points of human history is a main focus of the studies. The collection is marked by a broad diversity in approaches and theological background, and is a useful tool especially for scholars, students and pastors.
Tribe and State Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 287
ISBN: 9781463202491
Pub Date: 13 May 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Studies in the Ancient Near East
Description:
This book analyzes Zimri-Lim’s interactions with sovereigns from the Habur and with Yamut-bal and Numha tribal polities. It describes how Zimri-Lim’s disproportionate dependence on tribal connections left him vulnerable when these alliances began to falter in his tenth regnal year.
Epiphanius von Salamis, Über die zwölf Steine im hohepriesterlichen Brustschild (De duodecim gemmis rationalis) Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 148
ISBN: 9781463202798
Pub Date: 07 May 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies
Description:
At the request of Diodorus, bishop of Tyre, Epiphanius of Salamis produced this exegetical treatise on the gemstones in the High Priest's breastplate. The oldest Christian work on gemstones, the the author deals with the stones according to their appearance and their medical benefit as well as their attribution to the twelve tribes based on Christian exegesis. Only extracts of this work are preserved in Greek.
A Comprehensive Grammar to Hammurabi’s Stele Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 358
ISBN: 9781463202842
Pub Date: 30 Apr 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Gorgias Handbooks
Description:
This complete grammar of Code of Hammurabi is formally arranged and can be the basis for learning the rest of Akkadian grammar. Students of Biblical Hebrew or Arabic will find it a most convenient introduction to this sister language. The cuneiform text has been set out in columns opposite a phonetic transcription, thus enabling the comprehensive set of citations illustrating various points of Akkadian grammar to be easily checked within their wider linguistic context.
Grammar of Bar Hebraeus with Commentary Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 196
ISBN: 9781617199233
Pub Date: 29 Apr 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Kiraz Historical Grammars Archive
Description:
This volume is a facsimile edition of a handwritten manuscript of Gregory Bar Hebraeus's Grammar of the Syriac Language from the private collection of George A. Kiraz.
European Merchants in the Medieval Indies Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 25
ISBN: 9781611438789
Pub Date: 23 Apr 2014
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
Commercial sources on journeying to the east after Marco Polo; the gradual closing of trade between Italy and China or India under the hostile or defensive rulers of the lands in between.