Dr. Amitai Baruchi-Unna deals with history and historiography of the ancient Near East, particularly in Israel and Assyria. He is also interested in the history of worship in Israel, in search of ritual and other local traditions of cities in the Land of Israel. He published studies on the Book of Kings, on Assyrian royal inscriptions, and on the local traditions of Bethel and Jerusalem. In teaching political, cultural, geographical, and religious history of Israel in Biblical times, Dr. Baruchi-Unna emphasizes the broad context of Israel as an integral part of the ancient Near East, and the importance of critical unmediated reading of ancient sources.
Teaching fellow in the section of Biblical Period of the Department of Jewish History (since 2010)
Golda Meir fellow (2005)
Fellow in the 'Researchers of Jerusalem' program of Yad Ben Zvi Institute (2012-2013)
Selected publications
The Book of Kings
The story of Hezekiah's Prayer (2 Kings 19) and Jeremiah's Polemic Concerning the Inviolability of Jerusalem, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 39.3 (2015), pp. 281-297
Two Clearings of Goats (I Kings 20: 27): An Interpretation Supported by an Akkadian Parallel, Journal of Biblical Literature 133/2 (2014), 247-249
Jehuites, Ahabites, and Omrides: Blood Kinship and Bloodshed, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament (forthcoming)
Assyrian royal inscriptions
Genres Meet: Assurbanipal's Prayer in the Inscription L4 and the Bilingual Communal Lamentations, in Time and History in the Ancient Near East - Proceedings of the 56th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Barcelona, July 26-30, 2010, eds. Lluis Feliu, et al. (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2013), pp. 611-623
Religion, Politics, and War: Gestures toward Babylonia in the Imgur-Enlil Inscription of Shalmaneser III of Assyria, ORIENT: Report of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan 49 (2014), pp. 3-18
Esarhaddon's Prayer in the Inscription AsBbA as related to the mīs pî Ritual, Journal of Cuneiform Studies (forthcoming)
Reporting the Content of Divine Positive Response (annu kēnu) in Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, in “Now it happened in those days”: Studies in Biblical, Assyrian, and other Ancient Near Eastern Historiography presented to Mordechai Cogan on his 75th Birthday, eds. S. Aḥituv, A. Baruchi-Unna, I. Ephʾal, T. Forti, and J.H. Tigay (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, forthcoming)
Local traditions
The Story of the Zeal of Phinehas and Congregational Weeping at Bethel, Vetus Testamentum 65 (2015), pp. 505-515
City of Justice: Jerusalem as Embodiment of Justice in the Prophecy of Isaiah son of Amoz, in, Study of Jerusalem through the Ages, eds. Y. Ben Arieh et al. (Jerusalem: Yad Ben Zvi, 2015), pp. 9-18 (Hebrew)
This is your God(s): Plural Forms Referring to the Noun Elohim and the Israelite Cultic Declaration, Shnaton. An Annual for Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies 25 (2016), pp. 141-152 (forthcoming; Hebrew)
Historical geography
Benjaminite Cities in Micah 1 in Light of a New Emendation, Judea and Samaria Research Studies 18 (2009), pp. 43-51 (Hebrew)
Geography of Biblical Land of Israel, in Jewish Study Bible2, eds. A. Berlin
and M. Z. Brettler (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 2119-2124