NEW COURSE
CLAS-HEB 138 / HDS 1628 – What is Biblical Hebrew?
Semester: Fall
Offered: 2025
Instructor: Vladimir Olivero
Meeting Time: W 3:00pm – 5:45pm
Biblical Hebrew is taught and often studied as a monolithic entity, despite the widespread recognition that behind this label lies a more complex reality. The goal of this course is twofold: first, to familiarize the students with the variety of attested reading traditions and, second, to introduce them to the periodization of Biblical Hebrew. In each case we will read portions of texts to better grasp the main linguistic differences between reading traditions and between chronolects, and to understand the interpretative implications of such differences. We will begin with a detailed and advanced study of the Tiberian reading tradition, whose basic features the students already know. We will then explore the less known, yet prestigious, Babylonian reading tradition, which we will compare to the more familiar Tiberian one. Finally, the students will be introduced to the so-called popular reading traditions, that is the Palestinian reading tradition and the transliterations of portions of texts and words of the Hebrew Bible into Greek (e.g., Origen’s Secunda and those found in the Septuagint) and into Latin (e.g., Jerome). To conclude our study of reading traditions, we will study the Samaritan reading tradition and read portions of the Samaritan Pentateuch. With regards to periodization and linguistic diachrony, the students will be introduced to the distinctive features (mostly syntactic and semantic) of the three main chronolects of Biblical Hebrew and their respective textual corpora: Classical Biblical Hebrew (pre-exilic); Transitional Biblical Hebrew (exilic); Late Biblical Hebrew (post-exilic). Epigraphic Hebrew and textual criticism will help illustrate how chronolects can be further assessed.
Prerequisite: At least two years of Biblical Hebrew (Elementary and Intermediate courses), preferably three years (Rapid Reading course or the equivalent thereof) with previous extensive readings of biblical prose and poetry and of their linguistic features.
Jointly offered with: Harvard Divinity School as HDS 1628
For more details please visit the Harvard Course Catalog.