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.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 310
ISBN: 9781611430943
Pub Date: 28 Jun 2013
Series: Kiraz Chronicles Archive
Description:
The history of the Armenian province of Syunik is related here by its thirteenth-century bishop, a member of the local family of princes; it includes an extensive introduction by the translator, and an archaeological survey.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 384
ISBN: 9781611439663
Pub Date: 27 Jun 2013
Description:
Providing an analysis of the most important works of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Thomas Mann based on the methodology of comparative literature, this book attempts to determine the elements which reflect a common line of thought in their writings, as well as investigating how these cultural themes reflect their perspective on life and the world, the German spirit and nationality, art and music, politics and society.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 230
ISBN: 9781463200862
Pub Date: 27 Jun 2013
Description:
This volume explores the fascinating narrative structure and thematic elements of Matthew 8–9 which typologically present Jesus as the ‘New-Moses’ leading his people out of eschatlogical exile. This typology is created using imagery of Jesus’ healing diseases which find their antecedent in the Mosaic legal suit of Deut 28–30, and Matthew’s explicit citation of Isa. 53, in which the Servant is predominantly envisioned as a Mosaic figure.
The intervening call narratives brings a reconstitution of the twelve tribes. The author concludes by exploring the possible rationale and motivation for Matthew’s typological association of Jesus with Moses.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 314
ISBN: 9781593338466
Pub Date: 27 Jun 2013
Description:
The Trinity played a significant role in Jonathan Edwards’ theology. But what was the nature of his trinitarian theology? A common view among Edwards scholars is that he embraced the dialectical psychological and social models of the Trinity.
This study suggests that Edwards consistently used one model of the Trinity—the Augustinian mutual love model. Edwards uses the mutual love model to portray the loving relationships among the divine persons and in doing so stands in continuity with other early-Enlightenment apologists for traditional trinitarianism.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 224
ISBN: 9781593337926
Pub Date: 27 Jun 2013
Description:
This book describes the development of the Christian understanding of God from the second to the eighth century as witnessed by major theologians who gradually realized that the Incarnate Word made flesh was not the God of the philosophers. They helped construct the great dogmas of the Christological councils. Beginning with the Apologists and ending with Maximus Confessor, the theological tradition overcame the notion of impassible deity in favor of the humble God of Christian faith, the Word made flesh.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 412
ISBN: 9781593333942
Pub Date: 26 Jun 2013
Description:
The History, Poetry, and Genealogy of the Yemen is the earliest known history of pre-Islamic Yemen. Attributed to the South Arabian historian ‘Abid b. Sharya al-Jurhumi, it recounts in prose and poetry six saga cycles of ancient personages and events of the Yemen.
Here, two sagas, the dispersion of Sam’s descendants from Babel to the Yemen, and the destruction of the tribes of ‘Ad and Thamud, are translated with complete annotation. The tales of Luqman b. ‘Ad and his seven vultures, Sulayman and Bilqis, the Himyarite kings, and Tasm and Jadis are given in full synopses.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 301
ISBN: 9781593333256
Pub Date: 19 Jun 2013
Series: Gorgias Handbooks
Description:
A truly useful introduction to the Syriac language is a rare find. This practical initiation to the study of this ancient language of the Christian church speaks with clarity and authority. A fruitful integration of scholarly introduction and practical application, this primer is more than a simple grammar or syntactic introduction to the language.
Writing in a style designed for beginners, Kiraz avoids technical language and strives for a reader-friendly inductive approach. Readings from actual Syriac texts allow the student to experience the language first hand and the basics of the grammar of the language are ably explained. The book comes with downloadable material so that readers may listen to all reading sentences and text passages in the book.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 268
ISBN: 9781611439700
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2013
Description:
What is truly timeless? This book explores two ancient Greek terms for eternity, aiônios and aïdios. It traces these terms from their earliest occurrence in Pre-Socratic philosophy and Plato and through their interaction with Jewish thought and down into the patristic fathers, where they play a crucial role in debates over eternal punishment vs.
universal salvation.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 252
ISBN: 9781463202347
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2013
Description:
Excavation of the Small Temple of Petra, Jordan has revealed a Roman building likely dedicated to the imperial cult. Constructed in the wake of Roman annexation of Nabataea in 106 CE, the temple would have helped to solidify Roman control. Reid systematically examines the evidence used to support the identification of the Small Temple as an imperial cult building through the discussion of its prominent use of marble, a material with Roman imperial associations and almost entirely monopolized by the bureaucracy of the Roman Empire.
The analysis of architectural evidence, as well as the placement of the Small Temple within the city, also support this identification.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 268
ISBN: 9781593337919
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2013
Series: Gorgias Studies in the Ancient Near East
Description:
What was Canaanite religion like during the Middle Bronze Age, at the time of the biblical patriarchs? This volume presents a theoretical model for identifying ritual behavior in the archaeological record, providing a test case using the rich material culture and structures that have been unearthed at the biblical city of Gerar (Tel Haror, Israel).
Format: Hardback
Pages: 260
ISBN: 9781593339852
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2013
Series: Gorgias Studies in the Ancient Near East
Description:
Peter Karavites presents a revisionist overview of Homeric scholarship, whose purpose is to bridge the gap between the “positivist” and “negativist” theories dominant in the greater part of the twentieth century. His investigation derives new insights from Homer’s text and solves the age old question of the relationship between Homer and the Mycenaean age.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 220
ISBN: 9781463201463
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2013
Series: Gorgias Studies in the Ancient Near East
Description:
Recent archaeological discoveries within the Upper Tigris region in Southeastern Turkey offer a unique opportunity to understand the dynamics of the Assyrian Empire borderlands. Within a few years most of the region will be irreversibly submerged, due to the construction of the Ilisu dam, the biggest hydroelectric power plant project in Turkey. It is of paramount importance to understand and record as much data as possible about the local communities and the foreign connections that flowered in this area.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 78
ISBN: 9781611439434
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2013
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
This work contains illustrations of the thirteenth century Byzantine New Testament at the Rockefeller-McCormack collection in Chicago with a full description of its text, provenance, and the artistic and theological significance of the miniatures.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 296
ISBN: 9781593332211
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2013
Series: Gorgias Studies in the Ancient Near East
Description:
This book highlights and explains consistent differences in both the framing and content of the various pre-first millennium BC law collections of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Hatti. The differences between collections are placed in the broader background of the worldview and political make-up of the societies and individuals that created them, and their historical context.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 348
ISBN: 9781607240464
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2013
Description:
In recent years, the Qur’ān has come to the forefront of scholarly investigations in Islamic studies. However, the traditional interpretation of the book, commonly termed tafsīr, remains a vast, virtually untapped field of investigation. Many Muslims tend to ignore the material, seeing it as a storehouse of traditional restraints, and scholars frequently gloss over its importance as a historical record of the Muslim community, not appreciating the depth and breadth of the literature.
The essays gathered here expose and explore various aspects of the field of tafsīr, and their potential for scholarly research.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 246
ISBN: 9781611434217
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2013
Description:
Water is one of the most benign, and destructive, powers in the lives of all people, in particular in arid areas such as the Near East. This book provides an alternative way of thinking about the Roman Near East by exploring how its inhabitants managed and lived with their water supplies, especially in the wake of the Roman conquest. Through geographical, hydrological, and anthropological perspectives, this study aims to see how water can inform us about the nature of Roman Imperialism, the Roman economy, change and transformation in Late Antiquity.