Gorgias Press
Founded in 2001 Gorgias Press is an independent academic publisher of books and journals related to history, languages, and religious studies, with specific areas of expertise in the Ancient Near East, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Archaeology, Biblical Studies, Classics, Early Christianity, Jewish Studies, Linguistics, and Syriac.
Gorgias [GOR-gee-us] Press was originally created by George and Christine Kiraz as a specialty press that could keep up with their research interests. With a background in computational linguistics, George Kiraz envisioned combining cutting-edge technology with humanities research. The new company would be completely online, with no physical storefront, and it would use automation and digital printing technology rather than traditional print runs. With these tools, the press could afford to publish rare and understudied topics that were previously considered unprofitable, and Gorgias soon became known for its pioneering work in language and linguistics, religion, and especially Syriac and Eastern Christianity.
Gorgias’ philosophy of “Publishing for the Sake of Knowledge” rather than profit, attracted a number of new authors, and the press’ areas of interest rapidly began to expand. Today, Gorgias Press publishes 50-60 new titles a year, including monographs, edited volumes, translations, and more, and Gorgias books can be found in academic collections all over the world.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 284
ISBN: 9781607241430
Pub Date: 07 Apr 2009
Series: Monastic Studies Series
Description:
Written in the fifth century, during one of the most formative periods of Christian monasticism in Egypt and Palestine, The Ascetic Discourses show a strong influence of the Scripture, both Old and New, and of Early monastic writers. Abba Isaiah has set forth a practical guide for monks, ever aware of the challanges that interpersonal relationships present within monastic communities.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 48
ISBN: 9781607241300
Pub Date: 07 Apr 2009
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
Originally delivered as one of the St. Margaret’s Lectures for 1904, the contents of this booklet are focused on aspects of the Syriac-speaking Church. Extracted from Burkitt’s book Early Eastern Christianity, the fifth lecture explores Bardaisan and his unique contribution to Syriac Christianity.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 49
ISBN: 9781607241768
Pub Date: 07 Apr 2009
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
In this second lecture extracted from Sayce’s Origin and Growth of Religion, the renowned Assyriologist specifically considers the Babylonian deity Bel-Merodach. Noting that Cyrus the Great was a worshipper of this deity, the outlook of the priesthood of Bel-Merodach regarding his conquest of Babylon begins the discussion. Sayce then discusses localized versions of Merodach, considering Eridu, Borsippa, and Assur.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 56
ISBN: 9781607241775
Pub Date: 07 Apr 2009
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
This fifth extract from Sayce’s Origin and Growth of Religion, the topic turns to the “sacred books” of the Babylonians. Beginning with the “Chaldean Rig-Veda,” collections of hymns identified from the earliest days of Assyriology, Sayce also considers the earlier, less developed magical texts. Future considerations – sin, the status of heaven and Hades, and cosmology finish out the essay.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 62
ISBN: 9781607241812
Pub Date: 07 Apr 2009
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
Extracted from Arthur Penrhyn Stanley’s Lectures on the History of the Eastern Church, this set of lectures examines two of the most famous participants of the Council of Nicea, the Emperor Constantine and Saint Athanasius. Together these two figures largely define the Council of Nicea, and their portraits are vividly portrayed here by an eminent church historian.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 397
ISBN: 9781607241478
Pub Date: 07 Apr 2009
Series: Monastic Studies Series
Description:
At the dividing line between Antiquity and the Middle Ages, scholar-diplomat-pastor-writer-pope Gregory the Great drew on his profound knowledge of Scripture and his personal experience to preach the Gospel. These forty homilies show the practical concerns Gregory faced as well as the theological expectations he had of his flock.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 40
ISBN: 9781607241362
Pub Date: 07 Apr 2009
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
Originally delivered as one of the St. Margaret’s Lectures for 1904, the contents of this booklet are focused on aspects of the Syriac-speaking Church. Extracted from Burkitt’s book Early Eastern Christianity, the sixth lecture examines the ancient Syriac novel, The Acts of Judas Thomas.
Embedded within that story is a Gnostic Hymn of the Soul, to which Burkitt pays special regard.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 48
ISBN: 9781607241867
Pub Date: 07 Apr 2009
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
C. E. Hammond's Antient Liturgies provided a valuable resource at an early stage in comparative liturgical studies.
Free of extensive critical apparatus, Antient Liturgies presents a collection of historic forms of worship from the Western, Eastern, and Oriental Churches. This extract from the book focuses on the Armenian liturgy. With a beginning in the early fourth century, in connection with the Exarchate of Caesarea, this liturgy is presented in English. As an analytical introduction this early study continues to provide a broad overview of early Christian worship made available in an accessible and convenient format for students and scholars.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9781607241836
Pub Date: 07 Apr 2009
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
C. E. Hammond's Antient Liturgies provided a valuable resource at an early stage in comparative liturgical studies.
Free of extensive critical apparatus, Antient Liturgies presents a collection of historic forms of worship from the Western, Eastern, and Oriental Churches. This extract from the book focuses on the Clementine Liturgy, an important early liturgy, apparently known even to Justin Martyr. Rendered in Greek and with an analytical introduction this early study continues to provide a broad overview of early Christian worship made available in an accessible and convenient format for students and scholars.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 324
ISBN: 9781607241119
Pub Date: 05 Apr 2009
Series: Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies
Description:
Iraq has been a centre of Syriac Christianity for almost two thousand years. This volume of collected papers from the Christianity in Iraq I-V Seminar Days (2004-2008) explores the Christian heritage of Iraq, highlighting the churches’ innate ability to transcend barriers of language, culture, ethnicity and religion.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 206
ISBN: 9781607241423
Pub Date: 03 Apr 2009
Series: Monastic Studies Series
Description:
Far from the Christian metropolis of Alexandria, removed from the well-known and much–visited monastic settlements of the Thebaid, and infintely remote from Rome, lay the garrison towns of Aswan and Philae. There Christians and pagans coexisted. Integral to the christian community on this desert frontier of Empire were the local monks–ascetics, intercessors, and miracle workers.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 304
ISBN: 9781607240013
Pub Date: 03 Apr 2009
Description:
Were issues like economic and political oppression, holy wars, resistance literature, hate-speech, xenophobia and other 21st-century realities already present among the civilizations of the ancient Near East? Prophetic literature and specifically the Book of Nahum in the Old Testament provide a unique perspective on these issues. Through Nahum’s moving poetry and disturbing imagery, oppression is verbalised, deep emotion is uncovered and we are given a glimpse of liberation and new hope in times of darkness.
This book will sensitize the reader to a better understanding of the identity and dynamics of oppressed groups, both ancient and modern.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 323
ISBN: 9781593337513
Pub Date: 02 Apr 2009
Series: Kiraz Historical Grammars Archive
Description:
This handbook of foreign loan words in the Arabic of the Quran is set up in dictionary format. Each word is given in Arabic and in transliteration, followed by an extensive definition. As useful today as when it was first published, this volume will be welcomed by students of Arabic and especially those who are concerned with its relationship to foreign languages.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 48
ISBN: 9781607241232
Pub Date: 02 Apr 2009
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
Originally delivered as one of the St. Margaret’s Lectures for 1904, the contents of this booklet are focused on aspects of the Syriac-speaking Church. Extracted from Burkitt’s book Early Eastern Christianity, the first lecture concerns the early bishops of Edessa.
Starting from the basic difference between Eastern and Western Christian outlooks, Burkitt briefly sketches the early history of documented Edessa. Christianity appeared in the city between its sacking by the Romans and its incorporation into the Roman Empire around the start of the third century A.D.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 188
ISBN: 9781593335151
Pub Date: 02 Apr 2009
Series: Kiraz Chronicles Archive
Description:
The Book of Crowns on the Kings of Himyar, or Kitāb al-Tīgān as it is known in its original Arabic title, is a pre-Islamic collection rich with lore and myth by Wahb ibn al-Munabbih.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 48
ISBN: 9781607241256
Pub Date: 02 Apr 2009
Series: Analecta Gorgiana
Description:
Originally delivered as one of the St. Margaret’s Lectures for 1904, the contents of this booklet are focused on aspects of the Syriac-speaking Church. Extracted from Burkitt’s book Early Eastern Christianity, the second lecture proposes a theory of how the Syriac Bible was compiled.
Burkitt considers the role of the Peshitta, the Diatessaron, and the four Gospels and how their history at Edessa suggests that the Syriac Bible appeared.