What Difference Does Time Make? Papers from the Ancient and Islamic Middle East and China in Honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Midwest Branch of the American Oriental Society

A wide-ranging exploration of Time as experienced and contemplated. Included are offerings on ancient Mesopotamian archaeology, literature and religion, Biblical texts and archaeology, Chinese literature and philosophy, and Islamic law. In addition, the majority of the papers specifically address issues of differences and similarities between cultures, with or without actual cultural contact.

This volume is the publication of a conference designed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Midwest branch of the American Oriental Society, held at St. Mary’s University in Notre Dame, Indiana, in February 2017.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ; 
Introduction and Editor's Time Constrained Thoughts – JoAnn Scurlock ; 
The Middle West Branch of the American Oriental Society at 100 – Wayne Pitard ; 

TIME AS A CONCEPT ; 
From Beyond Time and Space: Master Zhuang's Cosmogony and Modern Physics – Amelia Ying Qin ; 

MEASURING TIME ; 
A 360-Day Administrative Year in Ancient Israel: Judahite Desk Calendars and the Flood Account – Jonathan Ben-Dov ; 
The Gifts of Mihragān: Muslim Governors and Gift Giving During Non– Muslim Holidays – Robert Haug ; 
Feasting in the Garden of God: Ramat Rahel and the Origins of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – JoAnn Scurlock ; 

TRAVELS THROUGH TIME ; 
Time, Travel and the Homesick Hero – Louise Pryke ; 
The Older the Better: The Critical Conception of Lateness in Song China – Xiaoshan Yang ; 
The Evolution of Terracottas from the First to the Second Half of the II Millennium B.C. – Laura Battini ; 
What Difference Does Time Make?  The Deuteronomic Portrayal of the Wilderness Period – Jeffrey Stackert ; 
Through a Glass, Darkly? Sea-Water, Bequests, and the Textualism-Tradition Tension in Islamic Law – Suheil Laher ; 

WRINKLES IN TIME
Converging Lines of Evidence: Archaeological and Chronological Data Supporting a 792 B.C. Date for the Iron IIA-IIB Transition in the Southern Levant – Jeffrey Hudon ; 
The Hyksos and the Exodus: Two 400-Year Stories – Peter Feinman ; 
Chinese Sovereign Revolution: Temporal Acceleration Toward A Better Future – Maria Adele Carrai ; 
Nippur's Galileo Problem – JoAnn Scurlock

JoAnn Scurlock, president of the Midwest Branch of the American Oriental Society, received her BA and PhD in Assyriology from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. She is the author of around one hundred articles in scholarly journals on ancient medicine, magic, mythology, religion, and political history.

Richard H. Beal received his BA in the Oriental Studies department at the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in Hittitology. He has worked for the Chicago Hittite Dictionary Project since its inception in 1976 and is now a senior research associate.