Prof. James Nathan Ford

Books 

1. Shaul Shaked, James Nathan Ford & Siam Bhayro, Aramaic Bowl Spells: Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Bowls, Vol. 1 (Magical and Religious Literature of Late Antiquity, 1; Leiden: Brill, 2013 [17 Jun 2013]).

2. Siam Bhayro, James Nathan Ford, Dan Levene & Ortal-Paz Saar, Aramaic Magic Bowls in the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin: Descriptive List and Edition of Selected Texts. With contributions by Matthew Morgenstern, Marco Moriggi and Na’ama Vilozny (Magical and Religious Literature of Late Antiquity, 7; Leiden: Brill, 2018 [10 Jul 2018]).

3. James Nathan Ford & Matthew Morgenstern, Aramaic Incantation Bowls in Museum Collections, Vol 1: The Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection of Babylonian Antiquities, Jena (Magical and Religious Literature of Late Antiquity, 8; Leiden: Brill, 2020 [04 Nov 2019]). 

4. Shaul Shaked, James Nathan Ford & Siam Bhayro, Aramaic Bowl Spells: Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Bowls, Vol. 2 (Magical and Religious Literature of Late Antiquity; Leiden: Brill, 2022 [28 March 2022]).

Articles

1. J.N. Ford, “‘Ninety-Nine by the Evil Eye and One from Natural Causes’: KTU2 1.96 in its Near Eastern Context,” Ugarit-Forschungen 30 (1998), 201-278.

2. J.N. Ford, “The Old-Assyrian Incantation against Lamashtu Kt 94/k, 821, lines 11-13a,” Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaire 1999/3 (1999), 57.

3. J.N. Ford, “Additions and Corrections to ‘Ninety-Nine by the Evil Eye ...,’ UF 30 (1998), 201-278,” Ugarit-Forschungen 32 (2000), 711-715.

4. J.N. Ford, “The Verb tqnn in RS 1992.2014,” Ugarit-Forschungen 33 (2001), 201-212.

5. J.N. Ford, “Two Syriac Terms Relating to Ophthalmology and their Cognates,” Journal of Semitic Studies 47/1 (2002), 23-38.

6. J.N. Ford, “Another Look at the Mandaic Incantation Bowl BM 91715,” Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society of Columbia University 29 (2002), 31-47.

7. J.N. Ford, “The New Ugaritic Incantation against Sorcery RS 1992.2014,” Ugarit-Forschungen 34 (2002), 119-152.

8. J.N. Ford, “The Ugaritic Incantation against Sorcery RIH 78/20 (KTU2 1.169),” Ugarit-Forschungen 34 (2002), 153-211.

9. J.N. Ford, “The Ugaritic Letter RS 18.038 (KTU2 2.39) and the Meaning of the Term spr ‘lapis lazuli’ (= BH סַפִּיר ‘lapis lazuli’),” Ugarit-Forschungen 40 (2008), 277-338.

10. J.N. Ford, “The Etymology of nutki ‘glass-paste’ in RS 17.383 in the Light of Egyptian wdḥ ‘to pour’,” Ugarit-Forschungen 40 (2008), 339-343.

11. J.N. Ford, “Word Play in the Lamashtu Incantations.” In C. Cohen et al. (eds), Birkat Shalom: Studies in the Bible, Ancient Near Eastern Literature, and Postbiblical Judaism Presented to Shalom M. Paul on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2008), 571-581.

12. J.N. Ford, “A New Parallel to the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Incantation Bowl IM 76106 (Nippur 11 N 78),” Aramaic Studies 9/2 (2011), 249-277.

13. James Nathan Ford & Alon Ten-Ami, “An Incantation Bowl for Rav Mešaršia son of Qaqay,” Tarbiẓ 80 (2011/12), 219-230 [in Hebrew].

14. J.N. Ford & Dan Levene, “For Aḥata-de-ʾabuh daughter of Imma”: Two Aramaic Incantation Bowls in the Vorderasiatisches Museum, Berlin (VA 2414 and VA 2426),” Journal of Semitic Studies 57/1 (2012), 53-67.

15. J.N. Ford, “Phonetic Spellings of the Subordinating Particle d(y) in the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Magic Bowls,” Aramaic Studies 10/2 (2012), 237-269.

16. J.N. Ford, “Ugaritic and Biblical Hebrew.” In Geoffrey Kahn (ed.), Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 872-878.

17. James Nathan Ford, “The Ancient Mesopotamian Motif of kidinnu ‘divine protection (of temple cities and their citizens)’ in Akkadian and Aramaic Magic.” In Uri Gabbay and Shai Secunda (eds.), Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations between Jews, Iranians, and Babylonians in Antiquity (Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism, 160; Tübingen: Mohr Siebek, 2014), 271-283.

18. J.N. Ford, “Notes on Some Recently Published Magic Bowls in the Schøyen Collection and Two New Parallels”, Aula Orientalis 32/2 (2014), 235-264.

19. James Nathan Ford, “New Light from Babylonia on the Semamit Story”, Eretz-Israel 32 (2016), 149-161 (in Hebrew).

20. Tatyana Fain, James Nathan Ford & Alexey Lyavdansky, “Aramaic Incantation Bowls at the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg”, Babel und Bibel 9 (2016), 289-324.

21. Matthew Morgenstern & James Nathan Ford, “On Some Readings and Interpretations in the Aramaic Incantation Bowls and Related Texts”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 80/2 (2017), 191-231.

22. James Nathan Ford, “Three hapax legomena in the Babylonian Talmud”, Le Muséon 130 (2017), 1-30.

23. James Nathan Ford & Ohad Abudraham, “Syriac and Mandaic Incantation Bowls”, in Dalit Regev & Hananya Hizmi (eds.), Finds Gone Astray: ADCA Confiscated Items (ADCA Reports, 1; Jerusalem: The Antiquities Department of the Civil Administration, 2018), 75-111.

24. James Nathan Ford, “'My Foes Loved Me': A New Incantation Bowl for Popularity and Success”, Meḥqarim BeLashon 17 [accepted for publication] (in Hebrew).

25. James Nathan Ford, “On the Etymology of Aramaic שרשיפא 'footstool'”, in P. Machinist et al. (eds), Ve-ʿEd Yaʿaleh (Gen 2:6): Essays in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Edward L. Greenstein (Writings from the Ancient World Supplement, Atlanta: SBL Press, 2021), 235-251.

Reviews

1. J.N. Ford, “Notes on the Mandaic Incantation Bowls in the British Museum” (review of J. B. Segal, Catalogue of the Aramaic and Mandaic Incantation Bowls in the British Museum [London: Trustees of the British Museum, 2000]). In Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 26 (2002), 237-272.

2. J.N. Ford, Review of Dan Levene, A Corpus of Magic Bowls: Incantation Texts in Jewish Aramaic from Late Antiquity (The Kegan Paul Library of Jewish Studies; London / New York / Bahrain: Kegan Paul, 2003). In Journal of Semitic Studies 51/1 (2006), 207-214.

Lectures at Academic Conferences

1. “From Judaism to Islam: On the Origin of the Name of the Angel Israfil.” The Israel Academy of Sciences, Lecture in Honor of the Late J. C. Greenfield on the 10th Anniversary of His Death, 4 April 2005 [20 minutes; in Hebrew].

2. “On Ugaritic spr 'lapis lazuli' in accordance with the 'Held Method' for Comparative Semitic Philology.” The Tenth Israeli Conference on Biblical Philology in Memory of Professor Moshe Held, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Beer Sheva, 8 July 2006) [30 minutes; in Hebrew].

3. “Ugaritic spr «lapis lazuli» in RS 18.038 (KTU2 2.39).” 8th Mainz International Colloquium on Ancient Hebrew, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität (Mainz, 10 November 2006) [45 minutes].

4. “Ugaritic pqq «dung pellet» in the Ugaritic Magico-Medical Text RS 24.258 (KTU2 1.114).” 218th Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Ancient Near East IV: Ugarit (Chicago, 15 March 2008) [15 minutes].

5. “The Historiola of the marziḥu of ʾIlu in the Ugaritic Magico-Medical Text RS 24.258 in the Light of the materia medica Prescribed in the Medical Recipe.” The Eleventh Conference of the Israel Society of Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies (Jerusalem, 18 February 2008) [30 minutes; in Hebrew].

6. “New Words in an Old Language: Recently Discovered Additions to the Eastern Aramaic Lexicon (and a Re-evaluation of Two Previously Known Words).” 9th Mainz International Colloquium on Ancient Hebrew, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Mainz, 15 November 2008) [50 minutes].

7. “On the Contribution of Akkadian and Ugaritic Sources to Biblical Philology: Selected Examples (Ex. 24:10; Jer. 4:19; Gen. 24:32).” The Thirteenth Conference of the Israel Society of Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies (Bar-Ilan University, 26 January 2010) [30 minutes; in Hebrew].

8. “Parallels Between the Babylonian Incantation Bowls and the Magical Texts from the Cairo Genizah.” Aramaic Magical Texts from Late Antiquity: Sources, Contexts, and Transmission. A workshop sponsored by the Britain–Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (BIRAX), Tel Aviv University, 13 September 2010 [60 minutes].

9. “Ancient Mesopotamian Motifs in the Aramaic Incantation Bowls.” Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations between Jews, Iranians and Babylonians in Antiquity (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 24 May 2011) [45 minutes].

10. “A Syriac Magic Bowl in the Kufic Script.” 10th Mainz International Colloquium on Ancient Hebrew, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Mainz, 29 October 2011) [30 minutes].

11. “Two hapax legomena in the Babylonian Talmud in the Light of the Magic Bowls and Mandaic”. Symposium in the Memory of Prof. Joseph Naveh. The Israel Academy of Sciences, Jerusalem, 20 November 2012 [20 minutes; in Hebrew].

12. “On Two Parallels between the Babylonian Incantation Bowls and the Magical Texts from the Cairo Genizah”. Sixteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem, 30 July 2013) [30 minutes].

13. "'Jesus the Physician' (יישוע אסיא) in the Jewish Magic Bowls". European Association for Jewish Studies Congress 2014 (Paris, 21 July 2014) [20 minutes].

14. “On the Use of Prophetic Biblical Verses in Jewish Incantations for Popularity and Business Success”. Interpreting the Prophetic Word: Exegesis, Reception and Appropriation of Prophetic Figures and Texts through the Ages. International Symposium, Tel Aviv University (Tel Aviv, 29 July 2015) [20 minutes].

15. “Babylonian Syriac: The Language of the Syriac Incantation Bowls”. 12th Mainz International Colloquium on Ancient Hebrew, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Mainz, 1 November 2015) [25 minutes].

16. “Some Contributions of the Incantation Bowls to the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Lexicon”. Joint Annual Conference of the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times and the Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center for Jewish History (Jerusalem, 2 March 2017) [40 minutes].

17. “Some Contributions of the Babylonian Magic Bowls to the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Lexicon”. The 17th World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem, 8 August 2017) [30 minutes].

18. “The Evil Eye in the Magic Bowls”. The Third Workshop for the Study of Ancient Jewish Magic (Tel Aviv University, 10 May 2018) [20 minutes].

19. “The Ugaritic Incantation Against the Evil Eye RS 22.225 in the Light of the Aramaic Magic Bowls”. The National Association of Professors of Hebrew 2018 International Conference on Hebrew Language, Literature and Culture (Amsterdam, 25 June 2018) [20 minutes; in Hebrew].

20. “Bowls for Popularity and Success”. International Workshop. Ancient Jewish Magic (Institut für Judaistik, Universität Bern, 1-2 November 2018) [2 hours 45 minutes (workshop)].

21. “On Biblical Quotations in Incantations for Popularity and Success”. המקרא באמר ובתמונה, הכנס הארצי השני (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 12 March 2019) [20 minutes; in Hebrew].

22. “An Unpublished Parallel to the Talmudic Babylonian Aramaic Magic Bowl BM 135563”. The Fourth Workshop for the Study of Ancient Jewish Magic (Tel Aviv University, 30 May 2019) [20 minutes].

23. “The Havdala de-Rabbi Aqiva in the Light of the Magic Bowls”. Ancient Magic: Texts, Objects, Contexts (Jerusalem, 1 March 2020) [30 minutes].

24. “The Evil Eye in the Syriac Magic Bowls”. 27th International Annual Conference on Jewish Studies (Moscow [Zoom], 11 July 2021) [20 minutes].

25. "The Contribution of the Magic Bowls to the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Lexicon". Keynote Lecture. The Aramaic Incantation Bowls in Their Late Antique Jewish Contexts (Yale University [Zoom], 4 April 2022) [60 minutes].

26. “On the Preparation and Burying of the Aramaic Magic Bowls”, אחרי שאוּל: הכנס הבין-אוניברסיטאי השנתי השביעי לחקר המאגיה היהודית לזכר פרופ׳ שאול שקד (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 7 June 2022) [20 minutes; in Hebrew].

27. “A Syriac Magic Bowl with Ritual Instructions”. XIII Symposium Syriacum (Paris, 5 July 2022) [20 minutes].

28. "Lexical Peculiarities of the Syriac Magic Bowls". The International Syriac Language Project (ISLP) (University of Zurich, 11 August 2022) [25 minutes].