On this page a list is given of all Ph.D. research which is now in progress. New entries are welcome as long as they concern research in Cuneiform Studies (Assyriology, Hittitology, Ugaritology and Near Eastern Archaeology).
Guidelines for new Ph.D. entries:
Ahrens,
Alexander (Bern/Switzerland - Damascus/Syria) - Meaning,
Socio-Political Function and Influence of Egyptian Imports (Aegyptiaca)
and Egyptianizing Objects in the Northern Levant during the Second
Millennium BCE
The aim of this thesis is to describe
and analyze the socio-political function and influence Egyptian
imports and local Egyptianizing objects had on the northern Levantine
elites during the 2nd millennium BCE. Contact
De Backer, Fabrice (Strasbourg/France)
- La formation et l'utilisation du personnel
militaire dans l'armée néo-assyrienne
Cette recherche porte sur l'organisation,
l'administration, le recrutement, l'équipement, l'entrainement,
les techniques et le matériel de combat ainsi que les missions
remplies par l'armée néo-assyrienne.
L'objectif principal de ces travaux est de comprendre en quoi
la machine de guerre des rois néo-assyriens leur a permis
de diriger une grande partie du Proche-Orient ancien. Les sources
textuelles, matérielles et visuelles seront utilisées
comme base de départ pour ce travail. Contact
Balatti,
Silvia (Kiel/Germany) - Mountain people
in the Ancient Near East: the Case of the Zagros
The research project aims at clarifying
the social organization, the way of living and the relationship with
the surrounding environment of the ancient people living in the Zagros
Mountains. The attention focuses in particular on the early and mid-1st
millennium BC when the interaction between the Mesopotamian lowlands
and the Eastern Mountains became more and more intense. It is the texts
of the people of the plains (first of all the Neo-Assyrian written sources),
which give the best information about the Zagros ranges and their inhabitants.
With the help of a systematic analysis of both these official documents and
the local scanty archaeological remains, an overall picture of the people
of the Zagros and their environment should emerge together with a view of
the ideological character of their foreign representation.
Contact
Barreyra Fracaroli, Diego A.
(New York/USA) - Imâr and Tuttul in
the Land of Dagan. An Alternative State Formation in the Syrian
Upper Middle Euphrates Valley through Old Babylonian Times
This research consists of a textual analysis
of the political and social interaction between tribes, cities and kingship
in times of the Mari cuneiform archive. This interplay, in a socio-economic
context of a pastoralist society, is a hallmark of the political developments
in Syria-Mesopotamia during the third and second millennia BCE and
represent essentially an alternative trajectory to state formation.
Contact
Barsacchi, Francesco G.
(Florence/Italy) - The Storm-Gods in the Anatolian
Religious Tradition of the II millennium BCE
This work aims at providing a systematical study
of the cult of the Storm-Gods in Anatolia during the 2nd millennium BCE.
The first part of the research will focus on the origins of the cult of this
deity called Taru and Tarhun(t) in Hittite cuneiform sources but more generally
expressed by the logograms d.ISKUR and d.U. The archaic festivals dealing with
the cult of the Storm-God will be examined. In a second part, the various local
manifestations of this god in the Hittite Kingdom and their relationship with the
official state Pantheon will be analyzed. A study of the local religious festivals
which refer to the cult of these deities and of the divine groups associated
with them will provide interesting reflections on the influence which the culturally
differentiated regions of Anatolia had on the development of the state cult of the Storm-Gods.
Contact
Bartash, Vitali
(Frankfurt Main/Germany) - Origins and Early Development
of the Standard Mesopotamian Weight System
The thesis concerns the emergence of the standard
weight system in ancient Mesopotamia and is part of the graduate research program
'Value and Equivalence' at the University of Frankfurt/Main. Sources under consideration
include Sumerian and Akkadian written documents from Archaic, Early Dynastic, and
Sargonic periods (c. 3200-2200 BC) of Mesopotamian history.The following issues are
being examined: a) the notation of weight units in cuneiform writing; b) goods
and objects weighed; c) weighing toolware; d) weighing standards/norms; e) the
social context of the process of weighing and its connections to the economic system.
The project aims to determine when and where did standard weight system in Mesopotamia
emerge, and to describe its early development.
Contact
Bloch, Yigal
(Jerusalem/Israel) - Studies in Middle Assyrian Chronology
and Its Implications for the History of the Ancient Near East in the 13th Century B.C.E.
This PhD thesis centers on proposing a more precise reconstruction,
than has been available hereto, for the chronology of Assyria in the 13th-12th centuries BCE.
Furthermore, the implications of the newly-reconstructed absolute chronology of Assyria for
the chronology of other major powers of the Ancient Near East in the 13th century BCE (Babylonia,
Hatti, Egypt) are explored. It is argued that Ramesses II must have ascended to the throne of
Egypt in 1290 B.C.E. and concluded the peace treaty with Hattusili III of Hatti in 1269 B.C.E.
On the other hand, it is argued that Shalmaneser I of Assyria completed his takeover of
northeastern Syria (Hanigalbat) only in 1263 B.C.E. In other words, the takeover of northeastern
Syria by Shalmaneser I, which brought him into a position of constituting a potential threat
to the territorial integrity of the Hittite empire, could not have been part of the factors
that motivated Hattusili III to seek peace with Egypt.
Contact
Boschloos, Vanessa
(Brussels/Belgium) - The geo-chronological distribution
of Egyptian scarabs in the northern Levant (Syria and Lebanon) from the late 3rd
millennium to the late Iron Age
Various publications on the subject stress the importance
of further study of this type of seal and its impact on Egyptian - Levantine relations.
So far, specialists have mostly been concentrating on scarabs from the southern Levant
(Israel and Jordan) but this study of scarabs from Syria and Lebanon hopes to complete
the research started by others. The researcher has been able to study private and public
collections (Brussels, Paris, Beirut, Damascus, etc.) thus collecting information on
provenance/archaeological context, iconography, chronology and typology of the numerous
scarab seals found in this region. The aim of this research is to use these parameters
to study distribution patterns and the intensity and evolution of Egyptian influence
in the northern Levant and to confront the archaeological data with the historical context.
Local imitations for example, but also the identification of local seal workshops,
can provide us with a clearer understanding of these contacts.
Contact
De Zorzi (Vienna/Austria) -
The divinatory series Šumma izbu (La serie
divinatoria Šumma izbu). Contact
Date of completion: 2011.
Friedrich, Elke (Jerusalem/Israel) -
The Mesopotamian way of sensing the world - with a semantic
examination of Akkadian verbs of perception.
The study aims at illustrating and exploring the
idea of sensory perception in Ancient Near Eastern Culture. It shall demonstrate
and disclose the emphasis placed on particular senses for the purpose of creating
a ranked listing of those senses. For this purpose, the three parts of the study
shall cover: a) the importance of sensory organs; b) an analysis of Akkadian verbs
of perception and synaesthetic adjectives with regard to their polysemy and hierarchy,
and c) some general deliberations on senses, which are either much emphasized, or
repressed in the cultural realms of mythology, cosmology and rituals.
Contact
Gambashidze,
Maya (Tbilisi/Georgia) - Weberei
und Textilien in Altanatolien nach hethitischen Keilschriftquellen
und archäologischem Material
Wie im gesamten Orient, spielen
in Anatolien Textilien eine wichtige Rolle (tägliche Bekleidung,
Ehrengewänder, Geschenke u.a.). Da dieses Thema bisher noch
nicht monographisch bearbeitet wurde, ist auf jeden Fall grundlegende
Forschung zu betreiben und sind wichtige Ergebnisse zu erwarten.
Mein Arbeitsplan ist folgendes: 1.Materialaufnahme: Inventare,
Ritualtexte, Geschenksliste, Festbeschreibungen, Lexikalische
Listen; 2. Bearbeitung des Materials: Termini für Stoffe,
Farben, Terminologie der Weberei; 3. Bearbeitung der neu erscheinenden
Keilschrifttexten sowie neuester Fachliteratur; 4. Vergleich des
hethitischen Materials mit dem Befund im Mesopotamien (Sumer,
Akkad). Neben dem philologischen Material ist auch kurz auf den
archäologischen Befund einzugehen. Im historischen Rückblick
sollte auch der Textilhandel des sog. altasses. Handelskolonien
(20/19. Jhr. v. Chr.) einbezogen werden. Contact
Gräff, Andreas -
Greek presence in the Ancient Near East between the
Neo-assyrian Empire and the end of cuneiform culture.
The Disseration aims at discussing all relevant sources for
the presence of greek persons in Mesopotamia and Iran and determining the function of
these people and changes in the role of greeks in the near east according to cuneiform
as well as greek and latin sources. Contact
Jeffers, Joshua -
Tiglath-pileser I: A Light in a Dark Age.
Tiglath-pileser I was an important Middle
Assyrian king who reigned in the late twelfth to early eleventh centuries
BCE from his capital city of Assur in northern Mesopotamia. At this time,
the Ancient Near East was descending into a "dark age," when documentation
for reconstructing history is fairly scarce. The researcher will collect
the textual and archaeological material from Tiglath-pileser's reign that
has recently become available and promises to bring further illumination
to the period. Additionally, specific attention will be given to this king's
role as a transitional figure from the Middle Assyrian territorial state of
the second millennium to the Neo-Assyrian empire of the first.
Contact
Jiménez, Enrique (Madrid/Spain) -
The Winds in Cuneiform Literature.
This research project aims at understanding
the phenomenon of the wind in the Ancient Mesopotamian world. First, meteorological
wind will be examined taking into account modern and ancient records
(archaeoclimatology). Secondly, the role of winds in Akkadian and Sumerian
literature (mythological, medical, etc.) will be studied. The main purpose
of this project is to analyze, compare and contrast the data collected in
order to trace back harmonized streams of tradition as well as changes in
the imagery of the winds. The project includes the edition of some hitherto
unpublished tablets relevant to this subject.
Contact
Lampasona, Daniele Umberto (Naples/Italy) -
Letter-orders in Ur III period (Le letter-order nel
periodo Ur III).
In spite of the big number of letter-orders
known nowadays (nearly 700), no comprehensive study of this kind of document
has been done since the appearance of Sollberger's TCS 1. The aim of this
thesis is to gather all the edited material, to present a study about formal
characteristics and to subdivide the letters into archives and, if possible,
to attempt a reconstruction of the socio-economical image of the Ur III society.
An electronic database of the collected material will be added.
Contact
Lang, Dr. Martin (Innsbruck/Austria) - Motive und Traditionen in den Altmesopotamischen Fluterzählungen (working title). Contact
Lisman,
Jan (Leiden/The Netherlands) - Cosmogony,
theogony and anthropogeny in Sumerian texts (3000-1600 B.C.E.)
In this research the ideas of the
Mesopotamian people with respect to the origin and development
of the cosmos, of the gods and of mankind will be studied on the
basis of relevant Sumerian myths and other texts and with the
aid of the god lists. The texts to be studied date from the beginning
of the third millennium down to the Old Babylonian period. Given
the length of the period and the change in population in Mesopotamia
during this time, a point of specific attention will be possible
changes in the conception(s) concerning cosmogony, theogony and
anthropogeny. The Mesopotamian ideas will be compared with those
of other contemporary peoples in the Ancient Near East. Contact
Muller, Virginie (Lyon/France) -
Death in the Ancient Near East. A lexical
and historical study based on epigraphic data (late 3rd-1st mill. BC).
Mainly Akkadian and some Sumerian texts provide the
primary material for this study, which is a lexical analysis of the semantic
field of the death, and of terms, expressions and euphemisms used to refer to dying.
All literary genres are examined, especially divinatory texts. The purpose is not only
to bring together a corpus, up to here non-existent, by going through the texts systematically,
but also to analyze all the terminology and to summarize the subject. This research
concerns concrete aspects of death, especially the different ways in which Mesopotamians
died and the acts that followed death, such as funerary practices and rites. We are also
interested in different feelings, values, and uses attributed to death by the living.
Contact
Olijdam, Eric (Durham/UK) -
People without History: Dilmun during the late Early Dilmun Period (ca. 1900-1600 BC).
The late Early Dilmun period is poorly understood as little
physical evidence can unequivocally be attributed to this phase. The general consensus -based
upon Mesopotamian textual sources and a dearth of archaeological material- is that a collapse
of the maritime trade-network triggered a series of catastrophic events in Dilmun which led to
an economic, political, social and cultural disintegration. It is true that Dilmun underwent
a period of change, but at the same time cultural continuity can be observed to both the
previous as well as succeeding periods. Main objectives of PhD: define late Early Dilmun
assemblages; factual re-examination of the late early Dilmun period; place Dilmun in the
geo-political context of the region during the reigns of Hammurabi and his successors,
especially its relation with the illustrious Sealand. Contact
Patrier, Julie (Strasbourg/France, Venice/Italy)-
Conservation et stockage des denrées alimentaires en Anatolie centrale au IIe millénaire av. J.-C.
Cette thèse a pour but de mener une étude sur les habitudes
alimentaires des Anciens, notamment sur la façon dont ils se procuraient les ressources
nécessaires à leur alimentation ; leurs techniques de stockage et de conservation ; les
pratiques culinaires en vigueur à cette époque. Il s'agira également de déterminer s'il
existe des différences d'alimentation au sein des diverses catégories de la population,
et s'il est possible de distinguer les courtumes alimentaires des hommes, des défunts et
des dieux. Le IIe millénaire est en rupture avec la période précédente, notamment par
l'apparition de l'écriture en Anatolie ; la Syrie du Nord a fini par être intégrée dans
l'empire hittite. Il me semblait donc intéressant de confronter les données de ces deux
espaces complémentaires et ce, dès le début de la période considérée. Contact
Peled, Ilan (Tel-Aviv/Israel) -
The Third Gender in the Ancient Near East.
The dissertation aims at investigating the concept of 'Third Gender'
in the various societies and cultures of ancient Mesopotamia and the Near East, from as early as
mid-third millennium BCE, up until the latest cuneiform texts. Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite and
ancient Hebrew texts are surveyed and evaluated, in order to assess this widespread phenomenon
of males who were ascribed feminine traits and behavior.
Contact
Perini, Silvia (Edingburgh/UK) -
Vessels Production, Use and Distribution in North Mesopotamia and Syria during the Middle Bronze Age.
A Ceramic Functional Analysis from Tell Ahmar (North Syria).
Despite the conspicuous archaeological evidence coming from the recent
MBA excavations in North Mesopotamia and Syria, detailed publications about morphological ceramic
characteristics and related economic activities (storage, processing, consumption and transportation)
are still scarce and when available only refer to local identities. The general aim of this research
is to deduce the connections between techno-morphological ceramic characteristics and related economic
activities during the MBA. My research will be conducted in three stages: archaeological analysis of
unpublished material coming from Tell Ahmar; critiques of existing works and application of findings
into a broader context; followed by the discussion and evaluation of how the identified economic
processes can be used for further research.
Contact
Pfoh, Emanuel (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina) -
Prácticas sociopolíticas en el Levante durante la época de El Amarna (siglo XIV a.C.).
The study shall focus on the socio-political relationships between Hatti
and her Anatolian and Syrian subjects as well as between Egypt and her Palestinian subjects during the
El Amarna period. Practices of kinship, pseudo-kinship, friendship, patronage and statehood, involving
prestige and power, shall be analysed from a historical-anthropological perspective. Contact
Pitts, Audrey (Cambridge/USA) -
The Royal Family of the Ur III Dynasty: Strategies and Practices of Political and Economic Control
This dissertation will comprise a systematic study of the royal family
of the Ur III Dynasty. The first part of the study will identify membership in the family, by both
blood and marriage, interrelationships among members, and the various roles or functions attributed
to members in the extant records. This evidence will be analyzed in the second part, with the aim of
ascertaining how the dynasty gained and maintained political and economic control over Sumer, its
peripheral regions, and its vassal states. Aspects to be considered will include various means of
coercion and cooption, such as nepotism, diplomacy and military action, as well as the monopolization
of goods, labor, institutions, and positions of prestige. Challenges and resistance to the dynasty's
hegemony, and factors which led eventually to its loss of control will also be examined.
Contact
Schneider, Bernard (Innsbruck/Austria) -
Baugeschichtliche Untersuchungen zum Ekur-Tempel in Nippur
It is the aim to combine the results of the excavations of the 19th
and 20th centuries in the Ekur-Temple of Nippur. Unpublished materials as plans, sketches, photos etc.
will be added to and combined with the published material.
The stratigraphy of the Ekur-Temple as a whole will be revised as well as architectural details added.
As a result it should provide the objects found within the Ekur with archaeological context.
Contact
Siddall,
Luis Robert (Sydney/Australia) -
Rethinking the Neo-Assyrian Hiatus: An Historical and Ideological
Analysis of the Inscriptions from the reign of Adad-nirari III,
King of Assyria (810-783 BCE)
Studies of Assyrian history and royal ideology generally
focus on the great kings of the Neo-Assyrian period. This thesis aims to elucidate the
political history and ideological principles of a lesser Assyrian monarch, Adad-nirari
III. The first part of the research establishes a chronology of the reign and a political
history of the period. The second section focuses on the nature the royal ideology present
in Adad-nirari's royal inscriptions. The findings from the second section are then compared
and contrasted with the reckoning of current scholarship in order to broaden our understanding
of Assyrian royal ideology. Contact
Date of completion: 2010.
Solans, Bárbara E. (Zaragoza/Spain) - Assemblies, Councils, Magistrates and Monarchs: Seats and Nets of Political Power in Syria-Palestine (II-I Millenium B.C.) Contact
Sternitzke, Katja (Munich/Germany) -
Babylon in the Kassite period
This study aims to give new insight in the Kassite settlement
of the ancient city of Babylon. Main sources besides the previous publications of the German
excavation team (1899-1917) are the original documentation material and the recovered small
finds. The focus lies on the Merkes area with its rich dwelling architecture and the associated burials.
Contact
Still, Bastian (London/UK) -
The Social World of the Babylonian Priests
The core research question of this thesis is to what extent
is the professional, purity-based hierarchy of the Neo-Babylonian priesthood reflected in
the priests' social interaction outside of the institutional context of the temple. Using
archives of priestly families from Borsippa this study aims at establishing the identity
of the priests' associates in four areas of social interaction: 1) marriage and family
formation, 2) circles of trust and intimacy, 3) patterns of landownership, 4) credit
operations. Social Network Analysis will underpin the study with a quantitative basis.
Contact
Stone, Adam (Cambridge/UK) -
The Importance of the Quotidian and Peripheral - A Diachronic Study of the Deliveries from
the Borders of the Ur III State
My doctorate concerns the Sumerian administrative documents
of the Ur III period of Ancient Mesopotamia, particularly those from Tell Drehem. I hope
to investigate the relationships between the Ur III administration and those regions on,
or beyond, its 'borders'. This relationship has been viewed as relatively static over time,
and uniform over space. I think that such a view is not supported by the varied transaction
history within the administrative documents, nor by recent work on the nature of 'core vs.
periphery' dynamics, nor by our growing understanding of the complexity and variability of
Ur III administration and its implementation. How were power and control exerted and extended
by the Ur III kings? How were relationships of power conceived and contested in this important
region at the end of the Third Millennium BC.
Contact
Taylor, Kynthia (Cambridge/USA) -
The Erra-Poem: A Literary and Comparative Analysis
This project seeks to investigate significant literary,
historical and religious issues in this poem, including the diachronic nature of the
cult of Erra/Nergal, his relationship to his vizier Ishum, the personality of the Seven/Sebetti,
the status of Marduk (especially with regard to the problem of evil), representation of
the divine, and the text's function in apotropaic magic. Although my analysis will not be
confined to the text itself, by situating the text in its intertextual context I hope
finally to illuminate and construct coherence in this difficult mythological poem.
Contact
Thompson, Richard Jude (Cambridge/USA) -
The Deuteronomistic Covenant and Neo-Assyrian Imperial Ideology: A Study of the Deuteronomistic
History in Its Historical Context
This study investigates Martin Noth's conclusion about the
Deuteronomistic History (DH) that the people of Israel had committed apostasy, ceased to
obey the law code of YHWH, and thus lost their land. Scholars have challenged Noth's
hypothesis and even the existence of such a history. The present study adopts a thematic
reading of the DH as a coherent corpus of writing with a consistent message. The study
thus hypothesizes that the DH depicts an imperial military covenant. After a survey of
the inscriptions of the second-millennium B.C.E. Levant, the Hittite empire, the
Neo-Assyrian empire, and the first-millennium B.C.E Levant, the study concludes
with a hypothesis that the evidence points to the ideology of the Neo-Assyrian empire,
especially that of Tiglath-pileser III, as the historical precedent for the Dtr covenant.
The study challenges two presuppositions that underlie both the DH and its scholarship:
that of the tôrāh as law and that of YHWH as a unique god.
Contact
Toro, Benjamin (Birmingham/UK) -
The Deuteronomistic Covenant and Neo-Assyrian Imperial Ideology: A Study of the Deuteronomistic
History in Its Historical Context
The aim of this research is to explore and elucidate the "Dark Age"
showing how this "Assyrian Pax" was an important factor in the development of antique civilization.
It will be elucidated how the new Assyrian order was the historical precedent of many imperialist
projects in the follow centuries, including the late Babylonian empire, the Persian, the
Hellenistic kingdoms and, finally, Rome. For these reasons, special considerations should be
attributed to epigraphic, archaeological, diplomatic and literary sources that enable improved
vision and understanding of this period of Ancient History.
Contact
Tsujita, Akiko (Leiden/Netherlands) -
Nisaba in ancient Mesopotamia
The aim of this research is to make a systematic study of Nisaba (a goddess
of grain and writing) in ancient Mesopotamia, considering document genres and worship places,
and historical transition of her worship and character.
Contact
Vacin, Ludek - Shulgi of Ur. Life,
Deeds, Ideology and Legacy of a Mesopotamian Ruler
The cardinal aim of the thesis is to bring together our present knowledge regarding king
Shulgi in one coherent study. Although the main focus is Shulgi's royal ideology and his
concept of divine kingship, the dissertation will discuss in detail all attested aspects
of his life and rule, beginning with his family, going on to the history of reign as
evidenced by historical sources and alluded to in relevant literary texts, eventually
arriving at a treatment of his royal self-representation and legacy (concerning the
economic organization of the state, its internal and foreign politicy as well as its
cultural life) as left to his successors and future generations of Mesopotamian rulers,
especially the kings of the Isin-Larsa period.
Contact
Velhartická, Shárka (Berlin/Germany) -
Studien zu den Huwaššanna-Texten (CTH 691-694)
This thesis aims to collect and catalogue all the texts belonging to the Huwaššanna-Rituals,
CTH-Numbers 691-694. The stress is laid on the precise classification of the texts, their
transcription, translation and commentary. This thesis is based on an uncompleted work of
PD Dr. phil. Cord Kühne. Prof.Dr.Jörg Klinger is preparing his work for publication parallel
to my thesis in order to make it possible to distinguish later from the original research of C.Kühne.
Contact
Wee, John Z. (Yale/USA) -
Medical Commentaries and the Practice of Diagnosis in Mesopotamia
This dissertation involves the edition, translation,
and explanation of medical commentaries pertaining to the Diagnostic Series SA.GIG,
along with selected commentaries on the therapeutic texts. It examines how canonical
descriptions of medical signs may have been interpreted in actual diagnostic practice,
as well as the dynamics of knowledge assumptions and appeals to authority implied by
the medical commentaries, especially those of Anu-iks.ur and his family from the city
of Uruk.
Contact
Wheat, Elizabeth (Birmingham/UK) - Cartography
in the Ancient Near East
'Cartography in the Ancient Near East'
is an Arts and Humanities Research Council funded PhD project which aims to provide a complete survey
of mapping throughout Mesopotamian history, under the supervision of Dr Alasdair Livingstone at the
University of Birmingham. Contact