Problems concerning the Origin of Some of the Great Oriental Religions

TEN YEARS ago the American Oriental Society held its annual meeting in Chicago. As it then celebrated its eightieth anniversary and it fell to my lot to preside, I devoted the Presidential Address to a sketch of Early Oriental Studies in Europe and the Work of the American Oriental Society 1842-1922. 1 It would, no doubt, be appropriate to continue this sketch today, when I have the honor of presiding once more. But the discoveries of the last ninety years have been so numerous, and the achievements of Oriental scholarship so great, that neither the time allowed for this address nor the ability of the speaker to survey so large a field would justify the attempt. Such a task, if it should seem desirable, may well be left for the centenary in 1942 and the scholar presiding on that occasion. It may be helpful, however, to call attention, even though it be of necessity briefly, to the effect that some of these discoveries, and the ever more exacting methods of historical research, have had on our present approach to the problems concerning the origin of some of the great Oriental religions. Exploration and excavation have brought to light an immense amount of ancient records preserved in practically their original form, dealing with strictly contemporaneous personalities, events, and conditions. Thus, to mention some of the most significant, we have cuneiform texts in a variety of languages: Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Elamitic, Persian, Chaldian, Hittite, Hurrian, and today even Phoenician. There is an abundance of Egyptian records, hieroglyphic, hieratic, and demotic, as well as Nubian that can now be read, and Aramaic and Greek papyri. Arabia has yielded numerous inscriptions in Minaean, Sabaean, Katabanian, Hadramautian, and Himyaritic, in Safaitic, Thamudene, and Lihyanian, and in later Arabic. In Syria and Palestine, Phoeni

Ancient history · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Near East History · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Philosophy