Biography:
Prof. Holm’s main research areas are the Hebrew Bible in its Ancient Near Eastern context; early Judaism; and Aramaic studies, including Aramaic language and Aramean religion and culture. She is the author of Of Courtiers and Kings: The Biblical Daniel Narratives and Ancient Story-Collections (Eisenbrauns, 2013), and Aramaic Literary Texts, soon to appear in the Society of Biblical Literature series “Writings from the Ancient World.” The latter is a bilingual edition of Aramaic literary texts from the Levant to Egypt, in particular the multi-composition Papyrus Amherst 63, written in Aramaic language but with Demotic Egyptian script. Other projects include a monograph on ancient Aramaic literature generally (under contract with Walter de Gruyter). Prof. Holm is also co-editing Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Comparative Study of Semitic Languages: Proceedings of the 7th and 8th Meetings of the International Association for Comparative Semitics with Juan Pedro Monferrer Sala (in press), and editing the Handbook of Religions in the Ancient Near East, for Oxford University Press (forthcoming). Among other professional service, she is an editorial board member of the Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions, a member of the Eisenbrauns Editorial Committeee for Penn State University Press, and Aramaic epigrapher for The University of Vienna Middle Egypt Project at Sheikh Faḍl. She regularly teaches Hebrew Bible; Apocalypse and Beyond; Aramaic (including Syriac); Origins of God: History of Monotheism; Sacrifice and Ancient Religions; and Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations.
Awards:
National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research grant, co-project director (2025-2026)
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2015-2016)
Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion grant (2007-2009)
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend (2004)
Education Details:
Publications:
“Preliminary Report on the Investigation of a Late Period Tomb with Aramaic Inscription at el-Sheikh Fadl/Egypt.” Co-authored by: E. Christiana Köhler, Delphine Driaux, Sylvie Marchand, Tawny Holm, and Arianne Capirci. Ägypten und Levante/Egypt and the Levant 28 (2018): 55-84.
“Royal Women Sages in Aramaic Literature: The Unnamed Queen in Daniel 5 and Saritrah in the ‘Revolt of Babylon.’” Pp. 151-74 in From Mari to Jerusalem and Back: Assyriological and Biblical Studies in Honor of Jack Murad Sasson, ed. A. Azzoni et al. University Park: Eisenbrauns, 2020.
“In Praise of Gods & Goddesses in Aramean Egypt: Papyrus Amherst 63.” Pp. 301-24 in Hymnen und Aretalogien im antiken Mittelmeerraum: Von Inana bis Isis, ed. L. Bricault and M.A. Stadler. Philippika 154. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2021.
“Nanay(a) among the Arameans: New Light from P. Amherst 63.” Pp. 92-116 in New Perspectives on Aramaic Epigraphy in Mesopotamia, Qumran, Egypt and Idumea: Proceedings of the Joint RIAB Minerva Center and the Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center of Jewish History. Ed. A. Maeir et al. Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times 2. ORA 40. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021.
“Papyrus Amherst 63 and the Arameans of Egypt: A Landscape of Cultural Nostalgia.” Pp. 323-51 in Elephantine in Context: Studies on the History, Religion and Literature of the Judeans in Persian Period Egypt, ed. R. G. Kratz and B.U. Schipper. Forschungen zum Alten Testament 155. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022.
“Sacrifice and Feasting in Papyrus Amherst 63.” Pp. 135-68 in Ceremonies, Feasts and Festivities in Ancient Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean World: Performance and Participation. Proceedings of the 11th Melammu Workshop, Barcelona, 29-31 January 2019, ed. R. Da Riva, A. Arroyo, and C. Debours. Melammu Workshops and Monographs 7. Münster: Zaphon Verlag, 2022.
“The Wandering Arameans in Egypt: Papyrus Amherst 63.” Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel 12 (2023): 157-79.
“Bethel and Yahō: A Tale of Two Gods in Egypt,” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 23 (2023): 25-55.
“Samarians in the Egyptian Diaspora.” Pp. 185-211 in Yahwism under the Achaemenid Empire (Professor Shaul Shaked in memoriam), eds. Gad Barnea and Reinhard Kratz. BZAW. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2024.
“The Aramaic ‘Inaros’ Inscription at el-Sheikh Faḍl,” Interdisciplinary Egyptology (IntEg), in press.
“Western Aramaic Elements in Papyrus Amherst 63, the Aramaic Text in Demotic Script.” In Holm and Monferrer-Sala, ed. Eisenbrauns, in press.
