Edith Porada, a leading authority on ancient cylinder seals, died on March 24 at age 81. A Viennese native who received her doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1935, Porada was the Arthur Lehman Professor Emeritus at Columbia University and honorary curator of seals and tablets at the Pierpoint Morgan Library. Porada also directed Columbia’s excavations on the Phlamoudhi plain in northeastern Cyprus in the early 1970s. There, on a remote hill, her team uncovered a Hellenistic sanctuary that proved the existence of close commercial ties between Cyprus and Greece in the late Bronze Age (1500 B.C.). A $1 million gift from an anonymous donor allowed Columbia University to create, in 1983, an Edith Porada professorship of ancient Near Eastern art history and archaeology. A remarkable scholar and teacher, Porada actively led graduate seminars until her death. She is survived by her sister, Hildegard Randolph.