Contact Information
3080 Foreign Language Building
707 South Mathews
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Research Interests
Religions of the Ancient Near East
Education
Ph.D., Harvard University, 1982
B.A., University of Tennessee, 1974
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor Emeritus, Religion
Honors & Awards
Faculty Fellow, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, 2007-2008.
Two-year grant from University of Illinois Provost’s Office for support of the InscriptiFact Project, 2007
Associate, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, 2003-2004
Highlighted Publications
Pitard, W. T. (1987). Ancient Damascus: A Historical Study of the Syrian City-State from Earliest Times until Its Fall to the Assyrians in 732 B.C.E. Eisenbrauns.
Recent Publications
Pitard, W. T. (2020). The Middle West Branch of the American Oriental Society at 100. In J. Scurlock, & R. H. Beal (Eds.), What Difference Does Time Make?: Papers from the Ancient and Islamic Middle East and China in Honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Midwest Branch of the American Oriental Society (pp. 5-12). (Archaeopress Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology). Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvwh8bt8.6
Pitard, W. T. (2014). Circular signatures: Getting a better view of Mesopotamia's smallest art form. Biblical Archaeology Review, 40(3).
Lundberg, M. J., Fine, S., & Pitard, W. T. (Eds.) (2012). Puzzling Out the Past: Studies in Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures in Honor of Bruce Zuckerman. (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East; Vol. 55). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004227163
Pitard, W. T. (2012). Nodding Scribe and Heavy Thumb: The Scribal Errors in Cat 1.14 III 52–V 8. In M. J. Lundberg, S. Fine, & W. T. Pitard (Eds.), Puzzling Out the Past: Studies in Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures in Honor of Bruce Zuckerman (pp. 135-153). (Culture and History of the Ancient Near East; Vol. 55). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004227163_014
Pitard, W. T. (2010). Temple Building in Northwest Semitic Literature of the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. In M. J. Boda, & J. Novotny (Eds.), From the Foundations to the Crenellations: Essays on Temple Building in the Ancient Near East and Hebrew Bible (pp. 91-140). (Alter Orient und Altes Testament; Vol. 366). Ugarit-Verlag.