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.
A Comparison of Ancient Near Eastern Law Collections Prior to the First Millennium BC Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 296
ISBN: 9781593332211
Pub Date: 18 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
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.
Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Qur’ān Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 348
ISBN: 9781607240464
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
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.
Archaeologies of Water in the Roman Near East Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 246
ISBN: 9781611434217
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
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.
Concise Teachings of Christianity for Orthodox Families and Schools Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 158
ISBN: 9781463202156
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Publications of the Archdiocese of the Syriac Orthodox Church
Description:
Matti Moosa provides an introduction and a translation of Rev. Bulus Behnam’s 1946 work on the basic principles of the Christian faith based on the Holy Scriptures, showing that the Syrian Church considers the Holy Bible its sole authority for salvation.
Foundations for Syriac Lexicography V Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 180
ISBN: 9781617190278
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Perspectives on Syriac Linguistics
Description:
The fifth published colloquia of the International Syriac Language Project (ISLP), presenting papers from an international team of authors working to develop contemporary, interdisciplinary approaches to linguistics and lexicography.
Language and Heresy in Ismaili Thought Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 210
ISBN: 9781593337810
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
The heretofore unpublished Kitab al-Zina, virtually unknown in western scholarship, is a glossary of important Islamic terms by the 9th/10th-century Ismaili polymath Abu Hatim al-Razi. Some lament that Razi’s historical approach to etymology failed to catch on and that had it done so, the face of Arabic dictionary writing might have been altered for the better. His organization of material was uniquely Ismaili as he took pains to synthesize contradictory information into a harmonious whole.
Ordo Missae Syro-Chaldaeo-Malabaricae cum Translatione Latina Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 75
ISBN: 9781617195914
Pub Date: 17 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
This volume, with a short preface, contains the Mass for the Syro-Chaldean Malabar Church in fully vocalized east Syriac script with a parallel Latin translation.
Hearsay, History, and Heresy Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 380
ISBN: 9781593336424
Pub Date: 14 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
A collection of articles by Richard E. Mitchell presenting all the major historiographical problems scholars encounter in reconstructing the early Republic. Mitchell was one of the first scholars to question the practice of taking the broad outlines of the accounts handed down by Roman historians (writing hundreds of years later) at face value in writing modern accounts of the period.
The Military Consilium in Republican Rome Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 170
ISBN: 9781593333737
Pub Date: 14 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
The consilium, or advisory council, played an important role in the everyday activities of the Roman magistrate in his role as military commander. This work is an in-depth look at the commander's consilium from its first depicted appearances in the accounts of the legendary period to 31 BC. The concilium adapted to meet changing needs and serves to illustrate how Romans felt about their own society.
The Portrayal and Role of Anger in the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 376
ISBN: 9781607241287
Pub Date: 14 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
Ammianus’ treatment of the emotion of anger reveals as much, if not more, about his education, values, beliefs, personality, than it does about the people he writes about. This research contributes to a greater depth of understanding of the role of the key emotion of anger within the individual and collective lives of the characters as portrayed by Ammianus Marcellinus and how he uses them to influence the reader and colour his narrative.
The Sentences of the Syriac Menander Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 268
ISBN: 9781611434880
Pub Date: 14 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
The Sentences of the Syriac Menander appears in two Syriac manuscripts in the British Library, a full version in one codex, and a far shorter version, only a small fraction thereof, in another. This book presents a commentary on the text in its complete version focusing on parallels from both Jewish tradition and the Greco-Roman world, showing that the text is not, as it claims, the work of the Greek author Menander, but rather a work of Jewish Wisdom Literature composed in Syriac, possibly in the ancient city of Edessa itself, and preserved within Christian monastic circles.
God and Man in History Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 334
ISBN: 9781463202286
Pub Date: 12 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
Ferdinand Christian Baur’s thought about religion focuses on the idea of Gnosis in close connection with the notion of history, but rather than favor a traditional approach, he prefers a different path: a “new” understanding of religion which draws quite heavily on Hegel’s philosophy, promoting the idea that history is the realm where God and man exist and work together.
Coptic Loanwords of Egyptian Arabic in Comparison with the Parallel Case of Romance Loanwords in Andalusi Arabic, with the True Egyptian Etymon of Al-Andalus Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 69
ISBN: 9781463200275
Pub Date: 06 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
An extract from Collectanea Christiana Orientalia (2008)
Opening Heaven's Floodgates Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 548
ISBN: 9781611438949
Pub Date: 06 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Description:
The narrative of Noah’s flood in Genesis draws perennial interest from scholars and the general public. Too often, however, historical and exegetical studies of the text, the story’s reception, and discussion of theological appropriation remain aloof from each other, if not at odds. This volume takes the influential nature of the flood story as an ideal opportunity to bring some of these methods into dialogue.
Tishbites Cover
Format: Hardback
Pages: 411
ISBN: 9781611432947
Pub Date: 06 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Kiraz Historical Dictionaries Archive
Description:
This work is a collection of 712 obscure Hebrew and Aramaic words from the Talmud and Mishnah, compiled by Renaissance scholar Paul Fagius.
Iglesias en tierra de Islam: La Mas’alat al-kana’is de Ibn Taymiyya Cover
Format: Paperback
Pages: 42
ISBN: 9781463200206
Pub Date: 04 Jun 2013
Imprint: Gorgias Press
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
An extract from Collectanea Christiana Orientalia (2008)