William Robertson Smith

A Grammar of the Arabic Language - Vol. 1 is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1896. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1885. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Lectures on the religion of the Semites - First series, the fundamental institutions is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1889. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

Originally published in 1885, this book by William Robertson Smith examines the history of marriage and kinship relations within tribal groups in Arabia at the beginning of Islam. The text explains the intricate links of heredity and dependence among various groups based on male descent, as well as taking an interesting look at the practice of polyandry in various groups. Highly influential in its own day as well as later, this book will be of use to anyone interested in anthropology and the state of Arabic tribal groups in the time of Mohammed.

The outstanding nineteenth-century biblical scholar and Semitist William Robertson Smith gave three courses of Burnett Lectures on the Religion of the Semites at Aberdeen just over a century ago. The first series, published in 1889 (2nd edn, 1894), has long been a classic work. The second and third series were never published, owing to the author's ill health; however, the manuscript of them still exists in the Cambridge University Library and was recently discovered by John Day, who has produced this edited version of the work to commemorate the centenary of Smith's death. The Lectures, which constitute a work of considerable Semitic and Classical learning, are on the following subjects: Feasts, Priests and the Priestly Oracle, Prophecy and Divination, Semitic Polytheism and Cosmogony. Dr Day has written an Introduction, which evaluates the work and includes nineteenth-century press reports of the Lectures.

The works reprinted in this two-volume collection cover the length of Robertson's career, from his student days in 1737 to his closing years in 1789, and show his intellectual and stylistic evolution. Part One contains his lesser known writings and speeches. Subjects explored range from Greek translation to architectural history to university fund-raising to geological speculation to church politics. Part Two consists of the earliest biographical commentaries on Robertson's life, written by five men who knew him personally. Together these items reveal details of Robertson's life and career with the aim of giving the reader a wider picture of Robertson's character and career.

In this in-depth enquiry, the religion and spiritual traditions of peoples inhabiting the ancient Middle East is investigated by Professor W. R. Smith of Cambridge University. This investigation concerns the Semitic peoples as a whole, who inhabited several ancient countries in the Middle East. The peoples included in Smith's work include Arabs, Hebrews, Phoenicians, Aramaeans, Babylonians and Assyrians. Since these civilizations neighbored one another, traded, warred, and otherwise interacted, their spiritual beliefs and religions underwent a shared evolution with time. The author tackles the characteristics of ancient faith, establishing a series of commonalities between the ancient Semitic peoples. Subjects include such rituals as animal sacrifice, and the according of certain sites - typically caves and bodies of water - with a degree of holiness. Religious symbology, mystical creatures such as the demon, plus a variety of moral precepts and taboos, are also discussed at length. The earliest belief systems in the region were polytheistic, consisting of many Gods, who collectively interacted with humankind and aspects of the physical world. It was only later that monotheistic religions - a belief in one God - became prevalent and then dominant in the Middle East.

William Robertson Smith reveals the ancient familial and marital customs of Arabia, detailing their significance in the social and hierarchical structure of the society. First appearing in the 1880s, this enquiry did much to introduce and clarify Arabian customs of marriage and kinship to scholars working in the West. The place of the father and mother in the household, and the significance of children male and female, has a strong bearing on the community life of each tribe. Many tribes would use totemism to establish a person's lineage and relations, with totem symbols being commonplace in the Arabic tribes of yore. The bond of blood was considered enormously significant among nomadic groups; many felt a kinship even over vast geographic distances and despite meeting with one another only on rare occasions. Smith is meticulous in his sources, referencing historical documents produced in Arabia, in the courts of various rulers, as well as holy texts and other pertinent records. The result is an authentic and impeccably written narrative which sheds light not simply on its subject of family bonds, but on wider Arabian culture and history. This reprint reproduces the instances of Arabic and Hebrew text, so that readers can fully comprehend the significance and depth of the research.