My name is Matthew Saunders, and I am a PhD candidate in Near Eastern Studies at 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 The Catholic University of America, Leiden University, Oxford University, Freie Universität Berlin, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Jerusalem University College. 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 Aramaic studies, Ugaritic studies, Akkadian dialectology, comparative Semitic grammar, and the history of Semitic studies in early modern Europe. I’m currently writing a dissertation on Old Aramaic sociolinguistics with a focus on the linguistic history of Yādiya/Sam’al (Zincirli). I also have a passion for the digital humanities, especially the creation of digital scholarly text editions and the application of computational methods in humanistic research. For this reason, much of the information on this site revolves around these spheres of influence. Happy researching!