William W. Hallo+ was the William M. Laffan Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature and Curator of the Babylonian Collection at Yale University. He held degrees from Harvard, Leiden, and Chicago. He was author or co-author of The World's Oldest Literature: Studies in Sumerian Belles-Lettres (2009), Seals and Seal Impressions (2001), The Ancient Near East: a History (1998, 1971), and Origins (1997), among other volumes.
K. Lawson Younger, Jr., Ph.D. (1988) is Professor of Old Testament, Semitic Languages, and Ancient Near Eastern History at Trinity International University, Divinity School. He has published numerous works on the ancient Near East and the Hebrew Bible, including most recently, A Political History of the Arameans: From Their Origins to the End of Their Polities.