My name is Matthew Saunders, and I am a PhD student in Near Eastern Studies at The Johns Hopkins University. I received my BA in History and an MA in Theology from Welch College in Gallatin, TN (near Nashville). My second graduate degree is an MA in Biblical and Near Eastern Archaeology and Languages from the Divinity School at Trinity International University in Deerfield, IL (near Chicago); at TIU, I also completed the coursework requirements for the MA in Old Testament and Semitic Languages (all but thesis). In addition to these degrees, I’ve taken classes at a number of other colleges and universities, including Oxford University (in Anatolian languages and linguistics), Leiden University (in Semitic and Afroasiatic languages and linguistics), Freie Universität Berlin (in German), The Catholic University of America (in Semitic and Egyptian languages and literature), Fuller Theological Seminary (in ancient Near Eastern studies), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (in Old Testament), and Jerusalem University College (in historical geography of Israel). You can find more information about my academic and professional background in my CV here.
My current research focuses on the ancient languages and texts in the region of the Levant (modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and Palestinian territories) with a secondary focus on ancient Mesopotamia (the area around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq, Syria, and southeastern Turkey). Within the broad field of NES, I specialize in Comparative Semitics, Aramaic Studies, Ugaritic Studies, and Akkadian dialectology from both philological and linguistic perspectives. My research encompasses topics in ancient science and religion, including the study of astrology, divination, magic, and myth. I also have a passion for the digital humanities, specifically the creation of digital scholarly text editions and the application of computational methods to my aforementioned areas of research. For this reason, much of the information on this site revolves around these spheres of influence. Happy researching!
