Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies - Current Issue

Volume 71 Issue 01

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01

The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies is the leading interdisciplinary journal on Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East. It carries unparalleled coverage of the languages, cultures and civilisations of these regions from ancient times to the present. Publishing articles, review articles, notes and communications of the highest academic standard, it also features an extensive and influential reviews section and an annual index.

Al-Ma'mūn's alleged apocalyptic beliefs: a reconsideration of the evidence

Research Articles
Tamima Bayhom-Daou,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 1-24

Abstract
The designation by the caliph al-Ma'm Alid im Al n is said to have written to the sids after the death of al-Ri Abb w Alid destined to rule after the fall of the sids.

Clelia Mora and Mauro Giorgieri: Le Lettere tra i re ittiti e i re assiri ritrovate a Hattuša . (History of the Ancient Near East/Monographs, VII.) xii, 270 pp. Padova: S.A.R.G.O.N. Editrice e Libreria, 2004. $60.

Book Reviews
Daniel Schwemer,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 111-112

Abstract

Ann K. Guinan, Maria DEJ. Ellis, A. J. Ferrara, Sally M. Freedman, Matthew T. Rutz, Leonhard Sassmannshausen, Steve Tinney and M. W. Waters (eds): If a Man Builds a Joyful House: Assyriological Studies in Honour of Erle Verdun Leichty . (Cuneiform Monographs.) xxvii, 529 pp. Leiden: Brill, 2006. €159. ISBN 90 04 146326.

Book Reviews
Alasdair Livingstone,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 113-115

Abstract

Marlies Heinz and Marian H. Feldman (eds): Representations of Political Power: Case Histories from Times of Change and Dissolving Order in the Ancient Near East . xii, 210 pp. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2007. $39.50. ISBN 978 1 57506 135 1.

Book Reviews
Karen Radner,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 115-116

Abstract

Richard M. Frank: Early Islamic Theology: The Mu‘tazilites and al-Ash‘arī. Texts and Studies on the Development and History of Kalām, Vol. II. . Edited by Dimitri Gutas. (Variorum Collected Studies Series, CS834.) xii, 400 pp. Burlington and Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007. £65. ISBN 978 0 86078 978 9.

Book Reviews
Suleiman A. Mourad,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 116-117

Abstract

Liyakat N. Takim: The Heirs of the Prophet: Charisma and Religious Authority in Shi‘ite Islam . xiv, 236 pp. Albany: SUNY Press, 2006. $65. ISBN 0 7914 6737 6.

Book Reviews
Robert Gleave,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 118-119

Abstract

Aaron D. Rubin: Samuel David Luzzatto. Prolegomena to a Grammar of the Hebrew Language . 232 pp. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2005. $59. ISBN 1 59333 334 X.

Book Reviews
Clive Fierstone,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 119-121

Abstract

Yamuna Kachru: Hindi . xxi, 309 pp. (London Oriental and African Language Library, 12.) Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2006. €125. ISBN 90 272 3812.

Book Reviews
Rupert Snell,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 121-123

Abstract

Imtiaz Ahmad and Helmut Reifeld (eds): Lived Islam in South Asia: Adaptation, Accommodation and Conflict . xxv, 308 pp. New York and Delhi: Berghahn Books and Social Science Press, 2006. £55. ISBN 81 87358 15 7.

Book Reviews
Nile Green,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 123-125

Abstract

David Arnold and Stuart Blackburn (eds): Telling Lives in India: Biography, Autobiography, and Life History . x, 323 pp. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004. $24.95. ISBN 0 253 21727 X.

Book Reviews
Sutanuka Ghosh,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 125-127

Abstract

Antony Copley: A Spiritual Bloomsbury: Hinduism and Homosexuality in the Lives and Writing of Edward Carpenter, E. M. Forster, and Christopher Isherwood . xi, 397 pp. Lanham MD and Oxford: Lexington Books, 2006. $30.95. ISBN 978 0 7391 1465 0.

Book Reviews
William Radice,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 127-128

Abstract

Édith Parlier-Renault: Temples de l’Inde méridionale (vie–viiie siècles): La mise en scène des mythes . 413 pp. Paris: Presses Universitaires de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2006. €45. ISBN 978 2 84050 464 1.

Book Reviews
George Michell,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 129-130

Abstract

Martin Gaenszle and Jörg Gengnagel (eds): Visualizing Space in Banaras: Images, Maps, and the Practice of Representation . 358 pp. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006. €48. ISBN 3 447 05187 6. Niels Gutschow: Benares, The Sacred Landscape of Vārānasī . 498 pp. Stuttgart: Edition Axel Menges, 2006. £89. ISBN 393668104X.

Book Reviews
George Michell,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 130-133

Abstract

Ebba Koch: The Complete Taj Mahal and the Riverfront Gardens of Agra . 288 pp. London: Thames and Hudson, 2006. £39.95. ISBN 0 500 342091.

Book Reviews
Crispin Branfoot,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 133-134

Abstract

Soonil Hwang: Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The Doctrinal History of Nirvana . (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism.) xv, 160 pp. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. £60. ISBN 978 0 7546 53691.

Book Reviews
Tadeusz Skorupski,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 134-136

Abstract

K. R. Norman: Collected Papers (Vol. VIII.) . xviii, 383 pp. Lancaster: The Pali Text Society, 2007. £32. ISBN 978 086013 431 2.

Book Reviews
J. C. Wright,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 136-139

Abstract

George Lane: Daily Life in the Mongol Empire . (Daily Life through History.) xxiv, 315 pp. Westport, CT: The Greenwood Press, 2006. ISBN 978 0313332265.

Book Reviews
Bruno De Nicola,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 139-141

Abstract

Judith Pfeiffer and Sholeh A. Quinn (eds), In Collaboration With Ernest Tucker: History and Historiography of Post-Mongol Central Asia and the Middle East. Studies in Honor of John E. Woods . xx, 604 pp. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006. €128.

Book Reviews
D. O. Morgan,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 141-143

Abstract

Daniel Prior: The Semetey of Kenje Kara: A Kirghiz Epic Performance on Phonograph . (Turcologica.) xviii, 155 pp., CD. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006. €68. ISBN 3 447 05138 8.

Book Reviews
Keith Howard,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 143-145

Abstract

Bryan J. Cuevas and Kurtis T. Schaeffer (eds): Power, Politics, and the Reinvention of Tradition: Tibet in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003, vol. 3 . vi, 215 pp. (Brills Tibetan Studies Library.) Leiden: Brill, 2006. €69. ISBN 9004153519.

Book Reviews
A. C. Mckay,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 145-146

Abstract

Lars Peter Laamann: Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China. Christian Inculturation and State Control, 1720–1850 . (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia.) xiv, 204 pp. London and New York: Routledge, 2006. £65. ISBN 0 415 29779 6.

Book Reviews
Eugenio Menegon,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 146-148

Abstract

Lily Xiao Hong Lee and A. D. Stefanowska (eds): Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity through Sui, 1600 B.C.E.–618 C.E . xxx, 410 pp. Armonk and London: M.E. Sharpe, 2007. $99.95. ISBN 978 0 7656 1750 7.

Book Reviews
Valentina Boretti,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 148-149

Abstract

Frances Wood: The First Emperor of China . ix, 209 pp. London: Profile Books, 2007. £15.99. ISBN 978 1 84668 032 8.

Book Reviews
Oliver Weingarten,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 149-151

Abstract

Patricia Buckley Ebrey and Maggie Bickford (eds): Emperor Huizong and Late Northern Song China: The Politics of Culture and the Culture of Politics . (Harvard East Asian Monographs.) xx, 625 pp. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University East Asia Center, 2006. £38.95. ISBN 978 0 674 02127 3.

Book Reviews
Mark Halperin,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 151-153

Abstract

Mikael Adolphson, Edward Kamens and Stacie Matsumoto (eds): Heian Japan, Centers and Peripheries . x, 450 pp. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2007. £32.50. ISBN 0 8248 3013 7.

Book Reviews
Gina Barnes,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 153-155

Abstract

Rachael Hutchinson and Mark Williams (eds): Representing the Other in Modern Japanese Literature: A Critical Approach .(Sheffield Centre for Japanese Studies/Routledge Series.) xv, 345 pp. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. £21.99. ISBN 978 0 415 36185 9.

Book Reviews
Angela Coutts,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 155-156

Abstract

Robert E. Buswell Jr (ed): Religions of Korea in Practice . (Princeton Readings in Religions.) xx, 542 pp. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2007. £14.95. ISBN 0 691 11347 5.

Book Reviews
Martina Deuchler,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 156-158

Abstract

Jae Jung Song: The Korean Language: Structure, Use and Context . xv, 185 pp. London and New York: Routledge, 2005. £65. ISBN 0 415 32802 0.

Book Reviews
Jaehoon Yeon,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 158-159

Abstract

John N. Miksic: Historical Dictionary of Ancient Southeast Asia . (Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras.) xlix, 497 pp. Lanham, MD, Toronto and Plymouth: Scarecrow Press, 2007. £76. ISBN 0 810 855 244.

Book Reviews
Elizabeth Moore,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 160-161

Abstract

Richard Fardon: Lela in Bali: History through Ceremony in Cameroon . (Cameroon Studies.) xiv, 162 pp. New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2006. £37.50. ISBN 1 84545 215 1.

Book Reviews
Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 161-163

Abstract

Saheed A. Adejumobi: The History of Ethiopia . (The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations.) xx, 219 pp. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007. £25.95. ISBN 0 313 32273 2.

Book Reviews
Richard Reid,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 163-165

Abstract

Angelika C. Messner and Konrad Hirschler (eds): Heilige Orte in Asien und Afrika: Räume göttlicher Macht und menschlicher Verehrung . (Beiträge des Zentrums für asiatische und afrikanische Studien der Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel.) xv, 280 pp. Hamburg: EB-Verlag, 2006. €23. ISBN 3 936912 19X.

Book Reviews
Gebhard Fartacek,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 165-168

Abstract

Piotr Michalowski and Niek Veldhuis (eds): Approaches to Sumerian Literature. Studies in Honour of Stip (H. L. J. Vanstiphout) . (Cuneiform Monographs.) vi, 247 pp. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2006. €90. ISBN 9004 15325 X.

Book Reviews
A. R. George,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 168-169

Abstract

Hilmi Yavuz: Seasons of the Word: Selected Poems . (Middle East Literature in Translation.) xiv, 118 pp. New York: Syracuse University Press, 2007. £11.50. ISBN 0 8156 0879 9.

Book Reviews
Laurent Mignon,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 169-169

Abstract

T. Rhys Davids and J. Estlin Carpenter (eds): The Digha-Nikāya, Vol. I . viii, 259 pp. Lancaster: The Pali Text Society, 2007. £19.25. ISBN 9780 86013 096 3. Helmer Smith (ed): The Commentary on the Dhammapada (Dhammapadatthakathā) . (New edition, Vol. I, Part I.) xv, 134 pp. Lancaster: The Pali Text Society, 2007. £22. ISBN 9780 086013 432 9.

Book Reviews
J. C. Wright,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 170-170

Abstract

BOOKS RECEIVED FOR REVIEW

Books Received

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 171-178

Abstract

Adjectival ša syntagms and adjectives in Old Babylonian

Research Articles
Eran Cohen,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 25-52

Abstract
This paper describes attribution in Old Babylonian. The principles drawn upon are the traditional view of Akkadian syntax, modern Semitic syntax, and the principles of European structuralism. Bringing all these together, while exemplifying and proving previous unexplained statements by using Old Babylonian material, renders the whole issue tangible for every linguistically-oriented reader. a syntagms, being appositive to a referent substantive (when occurring), are in the same paradigm with adjectives, which are shown to have the same components as a syntagms: a pronominal nucleus, an attribute and the attributive link between them.

The beginning and the end of the Šahrestānīhā ī Ērānšahr

Research Articles
Albert De Jong,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 53-58

Abstract
Different readings of the first and the last phrase of the short Middle Persian text n r ahr are suggested; these show that its beginning and end are not as strange or exceptional as is suggested in its latest edition. In particular, it is argued here that a Middle Persian translation of the title of the sid caliph al-Man r can be found in the text.

Three languages on one leaf: on IOL Toch 81 with special regard to the Turkic part

Research Articles
Dieter Maue,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 59-73

Abstract
In this article I edit and comment on the Hoernle manuscript IOL Toch 81 (H 149.292) with fragmentary texts in three languages, Sanskrit (6 lines) TocharianB (1 line) and Turkic (15 lines). The primary interest is in the Turkic text, which probably forms part of an up saka's vow. Its orthography, morphology and lexis, perceptibly different from standard Uighur, show features which point to high antiquity and perhaps to non-Uighur provenance. Some Buddhist terms seem to be deliberately designed on a Manichaean foil. Thus the Turkic part of the manuscript may date back to the second half of the ninth century, or, if non-Uighur, to an even earlier period.

Blaming the messenger: a controversy in late Sanskrit poetics and its implications

Research Articles
Yigal Bronner, Gary A Tubb,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 75-91

Abstract
The last active period in the tradition of Sanskrit poetics, although associated with scholars who for the first time explicitly identified themselves as new, has generally been castigated in modern histories as repetitious and devoid of thoughtfulness. This paper presents a case study dealing with competing analyses of a single short poem by two of the major theorists of this period, Appayya D tha Paitar ja (seventeenth century). Their arguments on this one famous poem touch in new ways on the central questions of what the role of poetics had become within the Sanskrit world and the way in which it should operate in relation to other systems of knowledge and literary cultures.

“In the Power of God Christ”: Greek inscriptional evidence for the anti-Arian theology of Ethiopia's first Christian king

Research Articles
Stephanie L Black,
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 71 Issue 01 , pp 93-110

Abstract
Four fourth-century ad inscriptions of Ezana, first Christian king of Aksum (Ethiopia), are surveyed, with special attention to Ezana's only known post-conversion inscription, written in Greek. Greek syntax and terminology in Ezana's inscription point to an anti-Arian Christology which may be associated with Frumentius, first bishop of Aksum, and his connection with Athanasius of Alexandria. The inscription's trinitarian formula is structured in such a way as to assert the identity of the three members of the Trinity. The phrase further equates Christ with God. This christological language stands in contrast to the Arian imperial policy of the time, and is historically significant in light of Constantius's attempt to force Frumentius's recall to Alexandria. This inscription serves as the first internal documentary evidence for an anti-Arian Christology in the earliest developments of Ethiopian Christianity.