Gordon, Cyrus H.

Gordon, Cyrus H. (Herzl)

(1908– ) orientalist, educator; born in Philadelphia. His varied academic career ended with a professorship of Near Eastern studies at Brandeis University (1956–73) and the Gottesman professorship of Hebrew studies at New York University (1973–89). His scholarly publications on Near Eastern and Semitic studies included many works on Ugarit, but he was more widely known for his controversial theories about the Semitic sources of early Cretan and pre-Columbian North American inscriptions.