Email Address: bnporter@fas.harvard.edu
Education:
Swarthmore College, 1964-68
BA, 1968
University of Pennsylvania, 1968-87
  Ancient History Graduate Group
PhD, 1987

Books:
Images, Power, and Politics: Figurative Aspects of Esarhaddon's Babylonian Policy, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 208, (Philadelphia: 1993).
Editor and contributor, One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity in the Ancient World, Transactions of the Casco Bay Assyriological Institute, vol. 1 (Chebeague Island: 2000).  distributed by CDL Press.
Trees, Kings, and Politics:  Studies in Assyrian Iconography, Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 197 (Fribourg, Switzerland: Academic Press, and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2003).

Scholarly Awards and Grants:
John Frederick Lewis Prize of the American Philosophical Society, for Images, Power and Politics. Presented November 10, 1995.
American Council of Learned Societies Grant for Travel to International Meetings Abroad, to attend Tenth Anniversary Symposium of the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki, Finland, September,1995.
American Philosophical Society Research Grant for the project, "Propaganda and Public Image in Ancient Assyria: The Case of Til Barsip." Awarded April 15, 1997.

Articles:
"Assyrian Bas-reliefs at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art," brochure for Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 1989.
"Sacred Trees, Date Palms, and the Royal Persona of Ashurnasirpal II," The Journal of  Near Eastern Studies, 52 (1993), pp. 129-139.
"Conquest or Kudurru's?: A Note on Peaceful Strategies of Assyrian Government." In The Tablet and the Scroll: Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William W. Hallo, ed. M.E. Cohen, D.C. Snell, and D.B. Weisberg (Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 1993), pp. 194-197.
"Gods' Statues as a Tool of Assyrian Political Policy: Esarhaddon's Return of Marduk to Babylon." In Religious Transformations and Socio-Political Change: Eastern Europe and Latin America, ed. Luther Martin (Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1993), pp. 9-24.
"Language, Audience and Impact in Imperial Assyria." In Language and Culture in the Near East: Diglossia, Bilingualism, Registers, ed. Shlomo Izre'el and Rina Drory, Israel Oriental Studies, 15 (Leiden, New York, K”ln: E.J. Brill, 1995), pp. 51-72.
Consulting editor and contributor of the entries, "Assurnasirpal," "Assyria, Society," "Kadesh, Battle of," "Sargon of Akkad," "Sargon II," and "Sennacherib." For The Reader's Companion to Military History, ed. Robert Cowley and Geoffrey Parker (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996).
"Public Relations and Political Survival in Ancient Assyria: New Perspectives on Esarhaddon's Babylon Texts," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 140 (1996), pp. 164-174.
"What the Assyrians Thought the Babylonians Thought about the Relative Status of Nabû and Marduk in the Later Assyrian Period." In Assyria 1995: Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary Symposium of the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, ed. S. Parpola and R.M. Whiting (Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1997), pp. 253-260.
"These are Monstrous Deeds...," MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, vol. 9, no. 4 (Summer 1997), pp. 70-85.
"Assur-ahu-iddina," with Karen Radner. In The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, I/1:A, ed. K. Radner, (Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1998), pp. 145-152.
"A Good Night's Sleep Can Do Wonders." In "The Road Not Taken," MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Tenth Anniversary Issue, Spring 1998, p. 71. Reprinted in What If? The World's Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been, ed. Robert Cowley (New York:  G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1999), pp. 13-14.
"The Anxiety of Multiplicity: Concepts of the Divine in Ancient Assyria." In One God or Many? Concepts of Divinity in the Ancient World, ed. Barbara N. Porter, Transactions of the Casco Bay Assyriological Institute, vol. 1, in 2000, pp. 211-72.
"'For the Astonishment of All Enemies': Assyrian Propaganda and Its Audiences in the Reign of Ashurnasirpal II and Esarhaddon," Bulletin of the Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies, 35 (2000), pp. 7-18.
"Winged Genie Fertilizing a Date Tree: Seasonal Time and Eternity in Ancient Assyria," in Tempus Fugit: Time Flies, ed. Jan Schall (The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art: Kansas City, Missouri, 2000), pp. 213-18.
"Assyrian Propaganda for the West:  Esarhaddon's Stelae for Til Barsip and Sam'al." In Syria in the Iron Age, ed. Guy Bunnens, Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Supp. 7 (Louvain: Peeters Press, 2000), pp. 143-76.
"The Importance of Place: Esarhaddon's Stelae at Til Barsip and Sam'al."  In Proceedings of the XLVe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Part I: Harvard University. Historiography in the Cuneiform World, ed. Tzvi Abusch et al. (Bethesda, Maryland: CDL Press, 2001), pp. 373-90.
"Ritual and Politics in Assyria: Neo-Assyrian Canephoric Stelae for Babylonia."  In Charis: Essays in Honor of Sara A. Immerwahr, ed. Anne Chapin, Hesperia Supp. 33 (Princeton, N.J.: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2004), pp. 259-74.
"A Question of Violence: Ashurnasirpal II's Ninurta Temple Inscription as a Religious Polemic." To appear in Religious Polemics in Context, ed. Arie van der Kooij, Studies in Theology and Religion (Leiderdorp, The Netherlands: Netherlands School for Advanced Studies in Theology and Religion), forthcoming.
"Intimidation and Friendly Persuasion:  Reevaluating the Propaganda of Ashurnasirpal II." In Eretz-Israel 27, Hayim and Miriam Tadmor Volume, ed. Israel Eph'al, Amnon Ben-Tor and Peter Machinist. (Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society, 2003), pp.*180-92.
"Beds, Sex, and Politics:  The Return of Marduk's Bed to Babylon."  In Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East, Part II, S. Parpola and R. M. Whiting, ed., Compte Rendu, 47th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 2002), pp. 523-36.
"Ishtar of Nineveh and Her Collaborator, Ishtar of Arbela, in the Reign of Assurbanipal." In Compte Rendu, 49e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Iraq 66, forthcoming.

Reviews:
Simo Parpola, The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part I: Letters from Assyria and the West. In Journal of the American Oriental Society, 110 (1990), pp. 567-8.
Alasdair Livingstone, ed., Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea. In Journal of the American Oriental Society, 112 (1992), pp. 500-501.
John Malcolm Russell, Sennacherib's Palace Without Rival at Nineveh. In Journal of the American Oriental Society, 114 (1994), pp. 92-93.
Samuel M. Paley and Richard P. Sobolewski, The Reconstruction of the Relief Representations and their Positions in the Northwest-Palace at Kalu (Nimrþd), III: (The Principal Entrances and Courtyards). In Journal of the American Oriental Society, 116 (1996), pp. 273-74.
F.M. Fales and J.N. Postgate, ed., Imperial and Administrative Records, Part I: Palace and Temple Administration. In Journal of the American Oriental Society, 117 (1997), pp. 166-67.
Simo Parpola, Assyrian Prophecies, and Martti Nissinen, References to Prophecy in Neo-Assyrian Sources. In Bibliotheca Orientalis, 56 (1999), pp. 685-90.
Steven W. Cole and Peter Machinist, Letters from Priests to the Kings Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal.  In Journal of the American Oriental Society, 122 (2002), pp. 589-92.
Joan and David Oates, Nimrud: An Assyrian Imperial City Revisited. In Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research, 331 (2003), pp. 83-84.
Andreas Fuchs and Simo Parpola, The Correspondence of Sargon II, Part III: Letters from Babylonia and the Eastern Provinces, SAA 15. In Journal of the American Oriental Society, forthcoming.
Jean Bottéro, Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia. In Journal of Near Eastern Studies, forthcoming.

Papers Read:
"Assyrian Reliefs in the Collection of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art." The Bowdoin College Museum of Art, January 19, 1988.
"Propaganda and Politics: New Perspectives on Esarhaddon's Babylonian Policy." 198th Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, Chicago, March, 1988.
"The Political Life of a Myth: Marduk and the Babylonian Creation Myth." Bates College, February 8, 1990.
"Sacred Trees, Winged Men, and Kings: Myth and Symbol in the Bowdoin Assyrian Carvings." The Bowdoin College Museum of Art, November 15, 1990.
"Datepalms and Sacred Trees: Nimrud Revisited." The Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, in Berkeley, California, March 3-6, 1991.
"Gods' Statues as a Tool of Assyrian Political Policy: Esarhaddon's Return of Marduk to Babylon." The conference on "Religious Transformations and Socio-Political Change" of the International Association for the History of Religions, University of Vermont, Burlington, August 5-9, 1991.
"Sacred Trees, Winged Men, and Kings: Myth and Symbol in Assyrian Palace Carvings." University of Vermont, Burlington, April 7, 1992.
"Sacred Trees, Winged Men, and Kings: Meaning in Some Assyrian Palace Carvings." Bates College, May 17, 1992.
"Ceremony and Power: Royal Basket-bearing in the Reigns of Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal." 40me Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Leiden, The Netherlands, July 5-8, 1993.
"Propaganda and Politics in Ancient Assyria." Bates College, April 5, 1995.
"Public Relations and Political Survival in Ancient Assyria: New Perspectives on Esarhaddon's Babylon Texts." Annual meeting of the American Philosophical Society, November 10-11, 1994.
"The Relative Status of Marduk and Nabû in Babylonia in the Late Neo-Assyrian Period, as Seen through Assyrian Eyes." The 10th Anniversary Symposium of the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, Helsinki, Finland, September 7-11, 1995.
"Iconographic Evidence for Change in the Significance of Assyrian Tree Images." Panel on "Assyrian Mysticism and Its Afterlife," 206th Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, March 17-20, 1996.
"The Importance of Place: Esarhaddon's Stelae at Til Barsip and Sam'al." XLVe Rencontre Internationale Assyriologique, Cambridge, Mass., July, 1998.
"'For the Astonishment of All Enemies': Assyrian Propaganda and Its Audiences in Reigns of Ashurnasirpal II and Esarhaddon," Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies, January 12, 2000.
"A Question of Violence: Ashurnasirpal II's Ninurta Temple Inscription as Religious Polemic," conference on Religious Polemics in Context, Leiden Institute for the Study of Religions, April 27-28, 2000.
"Beds, Sex, and Politics:  The Return of Marduk's Bed to Babylon." 47me Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Helsinki, Finland, July 2-6, 2001, and in extended form, at the Workshop on the Religion of Ancient Mesopotamia and Adjacent Areas, Harvard University, March 8, 2002.
"Image as Error:  The Representation of Ashurbanipal as a Basket-bearing King in Babylonia." The Third International Conference on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Paris, April 15-19, 2002.

Current Projects:
Editing the collected papers from the workshop, "Ritual and Politics," held at the 47th Rencontre, July 2001, for The American Oriental Society Monograph Series.
Organization of the next conference of the Casco Bay Assyriological Institute, "What is a God? Anthropomorphic and Non-Anthropomorphic Concepts of Divinity in Ancient Mesopotamia," to be held in September 2004.

Professional Employment:
Chebeague Marine Enterprises, Inc.: Secretary-Treasurer and Sales Officer, 1981-present.
Bowdoin College Museum of Art: Consultant in Assyrian Art and Archaeology, 1986-1990.
Bowdoin College, Department of History: Lecturer, Fall, 1990.
Bates College, Department of Philosophy and Religion: Lecturer, 1990-91.
Brandeis University, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies:  Lecturer in Akkadian, Fall, 1993 and 1994-95.
Brandeis University, Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies: Visiting Lecturer in Akkadian Literature, 2003-2004.

Courses Taught:
Bowdoin College:
Palaces, Politics, and Art: Bas-reliefs in the Palace of Assurnasirpal II of Assyria

Bates College:
Palaces, Kingship, and Gods
Ancient Near Eastern Religions: Mesopotamia and Egypt
Ancient Israel: History and Thought

Brandeis University:
Advanced Akkadian: Historical Notes on Assyrian Kingship
Advanced Akkadian: Myth, Ritual and Politics
Architecture, Politics and Religion: An Introduction to an Assyrian Palace
Introduction to Ancient Near Eastern Religions (Mesopotamia and Egypt)
Akkadian Literary Texts: Texts of Neo-Assyrian Kings

Other Professional Positions:
Visiting Scholar, Harvard University and Brandeis University, 1995-96.
Research Associate, Harvard Semitic Museum, 1996-the present.
Member, Harvard Planning Committee for the 1998 Rencontre Assyriologique.
Director, The Casco Bay Assyriological Institute, 1996-the present.
Duties fundraising, accounting, organizing and conducting conferences and educational projects, and editing and supervising publications.

Professional Associations:
The American Oriental Society
The British School of Archaeology in Iraq
The Association of Ancient Historians
The North American Association for the Study of Religion

Other Activities:
Founder and past president, Chebeague Island Parents' Association.
Alto, The Whalers, a women's a cappella singing group, 1995-97.