Faculty

Jo Ann Hackett

Professor of the Practice of Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy

Before joining the Harvard faculty to teach Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic epigraphy, Prof. Hackett taught in Religious Studies Departments at Occidental College in Los Angeles and at Indiana University. Besides general Old Testament and epigraphy, her research interests have embraced Phoenician language and religion; the period of the Judges; women's lives in the ancient Near East; "fertility" religion; sacrifice, including child sacrifice; the study of myths and mythology; polemic against foreigners in the ancient Near East; and computer imaging of Ugaritic tablets. Publications include: The Balaam Text from Tell Deir Alla ; "Religious Traditions in Israelite Transjordan"; "Women's Studies and the Hebrew Bible"; "Can a Sexist Model Liberate Us? Ancient Near Eastern 'Fertility' Goddesses"; annotations to the book of Numbers in The HarperCollins Study Bible ; "Spelling Differences and Letter Shapes Are Telltale Signs"; and "The Era of the Judges" in The Oxford History of the Biblical World.