Cyrus Herzl Gordon (1908 - March 30, 2001), was an American scholar of Near Eastern cultures and ancient languages.
Gordon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Lithuanian emigrant and physician Benjamin Gordon. He was raised in an upper class Jewish family with a particular emphasis on devotion to Jewish learning, rational thinking, and an openness to secular learning. Gordon began studying Hebrew at age five and became interested in both Greek and Latin as a young child.
Gordon took his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, and also took courses at both nearby Gratz College and Dropsie College. These three institutions had specialized programs in the Bible, classics, and ancient Near East. At these universities, Gordon studied both Old Persian and Sanskrit.
Gordon spent the first half of the 1930s in the Near East as an American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) fellow, working out of both the Baghdad and Jerusalem centers. Gordon dug with Leonard Woolley at Ur, and worked with Flinders Petrie at Tell el-'Ajjul. He worked with W. F. Albright at Tell Beit Mirsim, and accompanied Nelson Glueck on his explorations in Transjordan. He was involved in the examination and translation of the Egyptian Tell el-Amarna tablets while with the J.D.S. Pendlebury expedition.
When Gordon returned to the U.S. in 1935, he was unable to find a permanent academic position, primarily due to the Depression. Gordon took a series of temporary positions at Johns Hopkins University, at Smith College, and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.
30 works Add another?
Most Editions | First Published | Most Recent
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Before the Bible
6 editions - first published in 1962 -
The world of the Old Testament
3 editions - first published in 1958 -
Riddles in history
2 editions - first published in 1974 -
The ancient Near East
2 editions - first published in 1965 -
Homer and Bible
2 editions - first published in 1955 -
Ugaritic textbook
2 editions - first published in 1965 -
Adventures in the nearest East
2 editions - first published in 1957 -
Hammurapi's code
2 editions - first published in 1957 -
Rabbinic exegesis in the Vulgate of Proverbs
2 editions - first published in 1930 -
Evidence for the Minoan language
1 edition - first published in 1966 -
The living past
1 edition - first published in 1941 -
Nouns in the Nuzi tablets
1 edition - first published in 1936 -
Ugaritic grammar
1 edition - first published in 1940 -
Ugaritic literature
1 edition - first published in 1949 -
Opgravingen in bijbelse grond
1 edition - first published in 1960 -
Smith College tablets
1 edition - first published in 1952 -
Ugaritic handbook
1 edition - first published in 1947 -
The common background of Greek and Hebrew civilizations
1 edition - first published in 1965 -
The Pennsylvania tradition of semitics
1 edition - first published in 1986 -
Introduction to Old Testament times
1 edition - first published in 1953 -
Lands of the cross and crescent
1 edition - first published in 1948 -
Before Columbus; links between the Old World and ancient America
1 edition - first published in 1971 -
The loves and wars of Baal and Anat
1 edition - first published in 1943 -
Ugaritic manual
1 edition - first published in 1955 -
Ugarit and Minoan Crete
1 edition - first published in 1966 -
The Bible and the Ancient Near East
1 edition - first published in 1998 -
The ancient Near East.
1 edition - first published in 1965 Borrow -
The common background of Greek and Hebrew civilizations
1 edition - first published in 1965 Borrow -
The common background of Greek and Hebrew civilizations
1 edition - first published in 1965 Borrow -
The common background of Greek and Hebrew civilizations
1 edition - first published in 1965 Borrow
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Alternative names
- Cyrus H. Gordon
History Created April 1, 2008 · 3 revisions
| June 15, 2010 | Edited by 82.171.181.173 | Edited without comment. |
| September 9, 2008 | Edited by RenameBot | fix author name |
| April 1, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | initial import |