Anson Rainey

Anson Rainey studied at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of California, Los Angeles and John Brown University. The recorded working language is English and Hebrew. Places of work recorded in the authority are Tel Aviv University. Residence is recorded at Sha'arei Tikva. Employment is recorded with Tel Aviv University.

Anson Rainey was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1930. Upon the death of his father that same year, he was left with his maternal grandparents. He attended Brown Military Academy in San Diego, California, from 1943 to 1946. After one semester of study there—as a cadet battalion commander—he served as assistant commandant at Southern California Military Academy in Long Beach, California, for the spring semester of 1947, before transferring to John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.

From 1948 to 1949 he worked as assistant commandant at the Brown Military Academy of the Ozarks, in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, while attending university. He took the B.A. degree there in religious education in August 1949. From 1949 to 1951, he worked as a social worker for the San Bernardino County Welfare Department in California. He went on to enroll in the California Baptist Theological Seminary in Covina, California, where he took three degrees: an M.A. in Old Testament (May 1953); a B.D. in Biblical theology (May 1954); and an M.Th. in Old Testament (May 1955). From September 1953 until May 1954, Rainey was a teaching fellow in Hebrew, Old Testament and New Testament introduction. In 1954 he was appointed assistant professor and taught for two more years. From 1955 to 1956, he studied at the University of California, Los Angeles and completed the B.A. with Honors in August 1956. In 1957, he began graduate study at Brandeis University, where he earned an M.A. in June 1959. He spent a third year of residence (1959–60), studying for his Ph.D. He came to Israel in June 1960, as the sole American recipient of the Government of Israel Award. From 1960 to 1961, he studied at the Hebrew University, first in an intensive Hebrew course and then in archaeology and in the Egyptian, Coptic and Phoenician languages, all in Hebrew. At the same time, he completed the basic research for his doctoral dissertation. In 1961, he returned to Brandeis as a research assistant. Upon completion of his dissertation on the Social Structure of Ugarit, he was awarded his Ph.D. in June 1962. However, Rainey's main activity for the academic year 1962–63 was research and study under a grant from the Warburg Fund at the Hebrew University. This award was renewed for 1963–64, and the book that resulted was translated into Hebrew and published by the Bialik Institute in August 1967. It was a revision of his earlier dissertation, expanded to include new source material that had subsequently become available. He began teaching Ugaritic and Akkadian at Tel Aviv University. From 1965 to 1966, he served as acting chairman of the Ancient Near Eastern Studies Department. In 1966, his status was changed to lecturer in Semitic languages. A year later he was appointed senior lecturer. In 1970 he was elevated to associate professor of ancient Near Eastern cultures. The department was reorganized under the title, Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, in which he served as coordinator for Mesopotamian studies until October 1975. A new department of Semitic linguistics was also organized, and from 1971 to 1972 he was its acting chairman. He was promoted to the rank of full professor of ancient Near Eastern cultures and Semitic linguistics effective July 1, 1981.

Anson Rainey died, aged 81, from pancreatic cancer in Tel Hashomer, Israel. His wife Zipora Cochavi-Rainey, continued his research on the el-‘Amârna tablets after his death.