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Acknowledgments
Jonathan Ben-Dov and Seth L. Sanders
[☞ p-0-1] This book was an unexpected positive side effect of our fellowship at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York University during 2010/11. What started as a small adventure turned out to be a meaningful conference—both for us and we hope also for the attendees and the readers of the present book. We are especially glad to present the volume in the ISAW series through NYU Press, both as a printed book and as an electronic document, with free access to the public via Creative Commons.
[☞ p-0-2] It is a pleasant duty to acknowledge the help we received from people at ISAW, who did not outright reject our idea for a spontaneous conference but rather embraced it with enthusiasm. ISAW director, Roger Bagnall, accepted the conference to ISAW’s schedule and supported the preparations in many ways. Alexander Jones lent a helpful hand and priceless advice in the organizing the conference, as well as delivering a response to one of the sessions. His presence at the lecture hall gave us the much desired perspective of the ‘general’ history of science outside the Jewish sources. Kate Lawson from ISAW was enormously helpful in putting the conference together, never tiring of our strange requests and special needs. Sebastian Heath has been an alert and graceful editor, who has a great impact on the book. Last but not least, we thank Shelby White, director of the Leon Levy Foundation, for her support of and engagement with the conference.
[☞ p-0-3] We thank John Collins, Seth Schwartz, and Lawrence Schiffman for chairing sessions and leading lively discussions at the conference. The issues each raised have had a significant impact in the pages of this book. Irene Soto, a graduate student from ISAW, quickly did most of the copy-editing, for which we are greatly indebted to her. Ross Teasler was instrumental in preparing the index.
[☞ p-0-4] Philip Alexander’s 2002 article is reprinted here courtesy of Peeters Press (Leuven). We are grateful for both the author and the press for permission to include the paper in the present volume.
[☞ p-0-5] Jonathan Ben-Dov acknowledges the help of the Israel Science Foundation, as well as the kind hospitality and scholarly discussion on the part of the following people during 2010/11: Dan Machiela, Steven Fraade, Max Grossman, Hayim Lapin, and Eileen Schuller. Seth Sanders thanks Trinity College for research support and Joseph Angel, Michael Barany, Jacco Dieleman and Mathieu Ossendrijver for enlightenment.