Most important, the scholarly blogosphere offers academics a place where they can reconnect with the public. The links between academic argument and wider public debates are increasingly tenuous and frayed. It's far harder than it used to be for academics to become public intellectuals (not that it was ever very easy, or very common). This has malign consequences, not only for the quality of debate on both sides of the divide, but also for public perceptions of the academy. It's also a source of considerable frustration to many academics, who either believe that their academic expertise could be valuable to a wider audience, or resent the distorted public perception of what they do. Blogging democratizes the function of public intellectual. It's no longer necessary for an academic to lobby the editors of The Washington Post's op-ed page or The New York Review of Books in order to make his or her voice heard. Instead, he or she can start a blog and (with interesting arguments and a bit of luck and self-promotion) begin to have an impact on the public conversation.

Quarterly Journal of Nestorian Studies
Welcome to the English edition of the Quarterly Journal of Nestorian Studies, an academic publication concerning "the Illustrious Religion" throughout the world. Here you will find articles and translations of historical documents on the Ancient Apostolic Orthodox Nestorian Faith, Aramaic and Nasarean (Nasrani), Essene, Dead Sea Scrolls, and much more. The Quarterly Journal of Nestorian Studies is published in Nasramit by the Catholicos Patriarch Research Centre at Mishqana.

[U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan] Haq said some 4 million copies would be printed in Arabic - at a rate of 250,000 a day - while the Kurdish north will get 1 million. Another 250,000 will be printed in Turkoman, and 150,000 in Syriac languages, modern variants of the Aramaic spoken in Jesus' time.

According to Professor [Richard] Pankhurst, the Institute of Ethiopian Studies is actively working to build up its liibrary and museum to present knowledge about Ethiopia's cultural history.

The museum has been largely re-organized for the conference, with a renovated art gallery opening up for visitors at the time of the Conference. In addition there will be new features, such as exhibitions depicting Emperor Menilik's Swiss advisor, Alfred Ilg, history of Ras Mekonnen building and history of Ethiopian patriots.

The library is particularly interested in acquiring photographic copies of the several thousand Ethiopian manuscripts now held in libraries and museums all over Europe and North America. For the development of so many aspects of Ethiopian studies, it is essential that the IES obtain photographic copies by scanning as well as microfilming the important Ethiopian manuscripts not only in Ethiopia but also in foreign countries.

While the Athenians often defined their own democratic system in opposition to Persian monarchy and autocracy, recent scholarship has acknowledged the highly tolerant and adaptable nature of the Ancient Persians. The Achaemenid king had the title of "king of kings" as well as "king of lands," revealing the flexible nature of his rule: while the different corners of the empire were mostly ruled by satraps (governors) from the central Persian royal family or nobility in order to preserve loyalty, local kings frequently retained their thrones and countries were permitted to function as they wished, as long as the Achaemenid king received his financial dues. In return for the reaping of wealth from around the empire, the Achaemenids promised security and protection, and to back such promises they had formidable military power.

[...]

Interest in the Achaemenid Empire was renewed in 19th century Iran, and was used during the reign of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1971 to reawaken nationalism when the 2,500th anniversary of the foundation of the Persian Empire by King Cyrus the Great was celebrated. Thanks to his appearance in the Old Testament, Cyrus I has been hailed in the Western world as an upholder of religious tolerance and human rights. When he conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., he reinstated religious tolerance and allowed various exiled peoples, including the Jews, to return to their homes.

The Cyrus Cylinder, discovered in 1879, on which is carved Cyrus's statement on entering Babylon, has become, perhaps simplistically, an icon of human rights. There is even a replica at the United Nations in New York. The Cylinder forms the final stage of the exhibition, suggesting that it symbolizes Ancient Persia's principal legacy. However, it is evident from the earlier displays that we can learn more today from the tolerance, flexibility and adaptability that were central to the Achaemenid Empire's administration than from an official royal statement.

Today the manuscripts offer proof that Africans' intellectual capacity extended beyond oral history and archaeological findings, which have long been regarded as the African way of recording history.

Experts say the manuscripts could be the most ancient to have survived in sub-Saharan Africa and are important because they offer a glimpse into the views of black Muslim scholars over the centuries.

The manuscripts were commissioned to be copied by governments, for which the artisans were paid a handsome sum of 24g of gold per copy. Some of these copies, which are adorned with gold leaf and vibrant colours, can be seen at the exhibition.

Riason Naidoo, project manager for the South Africa-Mali Project, said: "Copiers were treasured people in Timbuktu. They were paid a high salary and had a high status."

The manuscripts were mainly written in local languages using Arabic script. This makes it difficult for scholars outside of Mali to understand the meanings.

French colonisation has also contributed to much of the local population's inability to understand the scripts today.

Some of the manuscripts were also written in Hebrew, showing that Jewish traders passed through the area in search of gold.

Artful mending
By NATHAN BURSTEIN (Jerusalem Post)

Israel and the Vatican engaged in an uncharacteristically public war of words this summer, after a papal statement issued in July excluded a bus bombing in Israel from a list of terrorist attacks that occurred in other parts of the Middle East and London.

Any lingering tensions were set aside Tuesday, however, as Vatican officials took part in the official opening of the Israel Museum's newest exhibit, "Rome to Jerusalem: Four Jewish Masterpieces from the Vatican Library."

[...]

In his remarks, [the Papal Nuncio] Archbishop Sambi noted that the Vatican is currently working on another project conceived in Israel – a catalogue documenting the hundreds of other items in the Vatican's Judaica collection, an idea suggested by Israeli President Moshe Katsav at a meeting with Pope John Paul II in December 2002.

[the director of the museum, James] Snyder joked that, contrary to long-standing rumors, the Vatican does not have among its holdings the large gold menorah taken from Jerusalem during the Roman destruction of the Second Temple.

The exhibit consists of seven paintings, two of which are large murals. Each piece contains illustrated religious text from various traditions. The work is written in ancient languages, including Sanskrit, Hebrew, and Greek, and the style of the text resembles that of medieval illuminated manuscripts. Martin has worked with scholars from the Oriental Institute and the Spertus Museum in order to ensure accuracy in the text of her paintings.

"They took earth out of here with tractors, and there was a huge outcry. Never mind that when I work with tractors, they complain that I'm destroying the antiquities of our land, but here no damage was caused. A tool is a tool, the question is how it is operated. Didn't [archaeologist Nahman] Avigad work with tractors? But here it's forbidden. It caused an uproar. Now they are sifting through the earth, and what discoveries have they found? Mameluke findings? There's nothing there. Everything that Saladdin threw around, here and there, and some Israeli ceramics as well. So what? At digs you sometimes throw things out, you have to compromise. How can anyone say that they are destroying Jewish remains here, when they are not destroying Jewish remains? Soon we'll see who is destroying and who isn't," he says.