A Vase Inscription from Warka

Sign and Image: Representations of Plants on the Warka Vase of Early Mesopotamia

The Warka Vase is an iconic artifact of Mesopotamia. In the absence of rigorous botanical study, the plants depicted on the lowest register are usually thought to be flax and grain. This analysis of the image identified as grain argues that its botanical characteristics, iconographical context and similarity to an archaic sign found in proto-writing demonstrates that it should be identified as ...

A Middle Persian Inscription from Persepolis

This article deciphers and analyzes a  previously unknown Sassanian mint location represented by the inscription WLČ., based on the analysis of a Middle Persian inscription found in Persepolis, and on the linguistic changes that occurred during the transition to modern Persian. Evidence is presented to show that this previously unknown Sassanian mint designation corresponds to the modern-day ci...

A Greek Bronze Vase

When we think of Greek vases we generally have in mind Greek pottery, which has survived in quantity. Clay, one of the most perishable of materials, becomes one of the most indestructible in the firing. In fact, much of our knowledge of ancient civilizations is derived from the potsherds that are found in successive layers on ancient sites; a pot, once fired, may break into a hundred pieces, bu...

A Further Reading for the Hobab Inscription from Sinai

In the Spring 1987 issue of AUSS I examined the important Pro toSinai tic inscription discovered in 1960 by Georg Gers ter. This inscription is located a considerable distance west of the other Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions which cluster around the mines at Serabit el-Khadem.2 Both by its location and by its contents it appears quite distinct from the usual mining inscriptions or dedications writ...

A New Inscription of Xerxes