Armando Bramanti | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (original) (raw)
Books by Armando Bramanti
La lingua dei Sumeri is the first grammar of Sumerian written in Italian. It is designed as a com... more La lingua dei Sumeri is the first grammar of Sumerian written in Italian. It is designed as a companion both for the classroom and for self-tuition. The grammatical reconstruction is mostly based on documents from the Second Dynasty of Lagash and the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2140 – 2000 BCE) and is preceded by a thorough description of the historical context, cuneiform script, and phonology.
The description of morphology and syntax is followed by an extensive chrestomathy of 31 texts, giving the reader copies, transliterations, translations, and commentary of historical and royal inscriptions, legal texts, and administrative documents. The grammar is enriched by a syllabary and a sign list offering the readings and the Neo-Sumerian sign forms of the 243 signs attested in the chrestomathy and 30 noteworthy variants. An excursus on how Babylonians learnt Sumerian and a glossary conclude the volume.
Edited books by Armando Bramanti
dubsar 21, 2021
The papers collected in this volume originate from the workshop “Current Research in Early Mesopo... more The papers collected in this volume originate from the workshop “Current Research in Early Mesopotamian Studies” held in Paris on July 9th, 2019 at the occasion of the 65th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. The present volume brings together ten articles concerned with diverse aspects of the Early Mesopotamian documentation – i.e. texts dating to the Archaic, Early Dynastic (I–II, IIIa, IIIb), Sargonic, and Gutian periods, and extending geographically to include Ebla and its royal archives.
In 2009, Mario Liverani celebrated his 70th birthday and retired from teaching at the Sapienza in... more In 2009, Mario Liverani celebrated his 70th birthday and retired from teaching at the Sapienza in Rome, although his book Antico Oriente: Storia, società, economia remains in wide use and is still foundational for anyone studying the ancient Near East. The Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Archeologiche e Antropologiche dell’Antichità, where Mario Liverani was a leading specialist since the department’s inception, celebrated Liverani’s milestone birthday and retirement with a conference held in his honor, and this book publishes the papers that were read at the conference on April 20–21, 2009.
The title chosen for the conference was “Not Only History/Non solo storia,” which alludes to Liverani’s multiple interests and forays into the field of the ancient Near East and Egypt. A select group of scholars and colleagues was chosen to represent Prof. Liverani’s fields of interests, because it was impossible to include all of the Italian and international colleagues who could have been invited. Even so, the list of eminent contributors in the fields of ancient Near Eastern history, art, linguistics, and archaeology is more than adequate to recommend acquisition of this fine collection: John Baines (Oxford), Dominique Charpin (Collège de France), Joaquín María Córdoba (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Jerrold Cooper (Johns Hopkins), Jean-Marie Durand (Collège de France), Peter Machinist (Harvard), David Mattingly (University of Leicester), Piotr Michalowski (University of Michigan), Nadav Na'aman (Tel Aviv University), Nicholas Postgate (Cambridge), Johannes Renger (Free University of Berlin), Marc Van de Mieroop (Columbia University), Irene Winters (Harvard), and Norman Yoffee (University of Michigan).
PhD Dissertation by Armando Bramanti
Unpublished PhD dissertation in Assyriology submitted to Sapienza – Università di Roma and Friedr... more Unpublished PhD dissertation in Assyriology submitted to Sapienza – Università di Roma and Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degrees of Dottore di Ricerca in Filologia e Storia del Mondo Antico (Dr.Ric.) and Doctor Philosophiae (Dr.Phil.). Defended on November 20th 2017.
Articles by Armando Bramanti
níĝ-ba dub-sar maḫ. Studies on Ebla and the Ancient Near East presented to Amalia Catagnoti (Documenta Asiana 14), 2024
Latin America houses only few cuneiform collections. In this vast part of the world, Ancient Near... more Latin America houses only few cuneiform collections. In this vast part of the world, Ancient Near Eastern studies are often seen as an exotic field, and teaching Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern History and Archaeology still poses many challenges for the specialist who ventures into these fascinating subjects. For this reason, the presence of a cuneiform tablet in a collection in Santiago de Cuba constitutes an exception rather than the norm. As such, it deserves particular attention, which would otherwise be difficult to justify. The following pages offer the edition of a new Neosumerian administrative account (including photos, the copy, and a commentary) and, most importantly, present a few comments regarding Cuban collections of Ancient Near Eastern antiquities.
Akkadica, 2023
In spite of its rare attestation in the available sources, animal naming was probably a common pr... more In spite of its rare attestation in the available sources, animal naming was probably a common practice in Mesopotamia. To date, twenty animals (cows and oxen mostly from OB texts) are known to have borne proper names. The present contribution highlights three new Neo-Sumerian attestations of named domestic animals (two cows and one female donkey), adding new elements to the discussion of animal naming in ancient Mesopotamia.
If interested in reading the full article, please email one of the authors.
Vivencia del arte. La colección de Arte de la Antigüedad de Francisco Prat Puig en Santiago de Cuba, 2023
Catalog entry of a Neosumerian administrative document in the Prat Puig collection in Santiago de... more Catalog entry of a Neosumerian administrative document in the Prat Puig collection in Santiago de Cuba.
Short proceedings of the fourth meeting of the Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Storia e Filologia... more Short proceedings of the fourth meeting of the Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Storia e Filologia del Vicino Oriente Antico (GRISeF-VOA) – Ricerche in corso (December 2nd 2022, online)
RIAHO. Revista del Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental (nueva serie) , 2021
After a brief introduction to the concept of historical geography and to its application to Ancie... more After a brief introduction to the concept of historical geography and to its application to Ancient Near Eastern Studies, this article presents some thoughts on the historical geography of minor centers in the Early Dynastic Umma region. More specifically, the author analyzes the so far known information about the centers of Zabala, Ki'an, Dulum, and Kardaḫi during the reference time period, proving the importance of a historical geographical approach in the reconstruction of a complex, multi-layered economic and administrative panorama.
Current Research in Early Mesopotamian Studies. Workshop Organized at the 65th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Paris 2019. Dubsar 21, 2021
As the contributions in this volume show, Early Mesopotamia has recently received the renewed att... more As the contributions in this volume show, Early Mesopotamia has recently received the renewed attention of Assyriologists. This is also due to the generous amount of epigraphic material which has come to light in the last few decades. The publication of hundreds of texts has prompted the study of new socio-economic realities which have progressively assumed relevance in the general landscape of third millennium studies. Epigraphy, paleography, and diplomatics have also played an important role in the last years, and there has been increasing interest in the study of the metatextual features of older and newer corpora. A significant portion of these studies aims to produce new syllabaries and sign lists. The following pages disclose the making of one of these sign lists, presenting the ongoing work together with some preliminary results.
Current Research in Early Mesopotamian Studies. Workshop Organized at the 65th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Paris 2019. Dubsar 21, 2021
The aim of this brief article is to provide some quantitative data on newly published written sou... more The aim of this brief article is to provide some quantitative data on newly published written sources kept in major museums and private collections, as well as to offer an overview of the current state of research on the history and culture of third millennium Mesopotamia before the rise of the Ur III dynasty.
Sociedades Antiguas del Mediterráneo y América: aproximaciones desde el Sur. Actas de Jornadas Patagónicas de Estudios sobre Sociedades Antiguas (UNPA-UASJ) / I Jornadas Virtuales e Internacionales de Historia Antigua. Aportes Teóricos y Metodológicos en Tiempos de Pandemia (UNICEN), 2021
In 2019 F. Luciani and L. Rovira (Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina), S. Cháv... more In 2019 F. Luciani and L. Rovira (Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina), S. Chávez (Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile), and C. Gonçalves (Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil) have been involved in a number of teaching projects based on the academic stay of A. Bramanti (at that time researcher of the Université de Genève) at several Latin American universities. The authors of these pages present here some of the reflections and thoughts originated from these experiences.
Assyriology is the field devoted to the reconstruction of the three millennia of history of the Ancient Near East through the study of the cuneiform sources. It was first conceived as an independent field of study in the middle of the 19th century in Europe and from there it spread to the United States. Many other countries in the world eventually developed their own traditions of study. Nevertheless, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, and United States still play a significant role in the field and keep attracting students, researchers, research projects, and funding. Meanwhile, Latin American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and Chile are slowly progressing in the development of their own traditions in Assyriology, using the exchange with international teachers and researchers as a tool. Until last year, such exchange has involved traditional face-to-face teaching. Starting from 2020 distance learning have been integrated in the exchange programs.
NABU: Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires, 2021
This article presents the evidence of the god dki-nu₂, the divine bed, through the analysis of th... more This article presents the evidence of the god dki-nu₂, the divine bed, through the analysis of third millennium onomastics and lexical lists. Later sources and the paleography of the sign NA₂ have also been taken into consideration.
Temas y problemas de historia antiguo-oriental. Una introducción, 2021
Cuneiform writing has always been studied by epigraphists and philologists. Nonetheless, cuneifor... more Cuneiform writing has always been studied by epigraphists and philologists. Nonetheless, cuneiform is indissolubly bound to the materiality of its texts, written on clay, stone, metal, precious stones and much more. This article represents a journey through the metatexuality of the oldest writing system in the world.
El cuneiforme es uno de los sistemas de escritura más longevos en la historia de la humanidad, con una tradición de más de tres milenios, desde finales del cuarto milenio a. C. hasta el primer siglo de la era común. Las siguientes páginas presentan brevemente los aspectos materiales del cuneiforme y se proponen proporcionar las primeras herramientas para una aproximación meta–textual al estudio de los documentos.
Oriens Antiquus Series Nova 2, 2020
Short proceedings of the conference "Roma ed il Vicino Oriente antico. Attuali ricerche romane di... more Short proceedings of the conference "Roma ed il Vicino Oriente antico. Attuali ricerche romane di Assiriologia" organized at the Swiss Institute in Rome on 17/01/2020.
This PDF contains the original manuscript of the author. If interested in reading the full article in its published version, please email me.
Economic Complexity in the Ancient Near East. Management of Resources and Taxation (Third – Second Millennium BC), 2020
This article presents and—where possible—investigates the first occurrences of taxation in the cu... more This article presents and—where possible—investigates the first occurrences of taxation in the cuneiform sources, with a focus on the Early Mesopotamian documentation—hailing grosso modo from the Early Dynastic and Sargonic Periods. The concept of taxation got explored and problematized according to the different resources to which it applies.
NABU: Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires, 2020
Short proceedings of a web conference on linguistic and cultural contacts in the Ancient Mediterr... more Short proceedings of a web conference on linguistic and cultural contacts in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East with a focus on Italy and Anatolia organized at the Swiss Institute in Rome on 25/06/2020.
After the Harvest. Storage Practices and Food Processing in Bronze Age Mesopotamia, 2020
The following article presents a group of forty land-grain accounts belonging to the so-called Ea... more The following article presents a group of forty land-grain accounts belonging to the so-called Early Dynastic Umma corpus (twenty-fifth to twenty-fourth century bc ). According to the format and to the prosopography, most of them are attributable to two types of administrative accounts and three dossiers and hail from the ancient cities of Umma and Zabala. One type of texts falls under the category of niĝ2-ka9 accounts. The two types of texts correspond to two different administrative moments, both related to the harvesting of the crops and therefore to the management of the arable land. Moreover, some of the subscripts allow for reconstructions of the activities related to specific households or fields and of their productivity.
If interested in reading the full article, please email me.
The Third Millennium. Studies in Early Mesopotamia and Syria in Honor of Walter Sommerfeld and Manfred Krebernik, 2020
The British Museum houses a small collection of six cuneiform tablets and a Palmyrene dedicatory ... more The British Museum houses a small collection of six cuneiform tablets and a Palmyrene dedicatory inscription purchased in 1987 from the private collection of Solomon Pottesman. The aim of the present contribution is to provide a catalog of this lot and an edition of the so far unpublished cuneiform texts. In the appendix, Alessio Agostini added the edition of the Palmyrene inscription, which would have otherwise gone beyond the capabilities of the present author.
If interested in reading the full article, please email me.
La lingua dei Sumeri is the first grammar of Sumerian written in Italian. It is designed as a com... more La lingua dei Sumeri is the first grammar of Sumerian written in Italian. It is designed as a companion both for the classroom and for self-tuition. The grammatical reconstruction is mostly based on documents from the Second Dynasty of Lagash and the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2140 – 2000 BCE) and is preceded by a thorough description of the historical context, cuneiform script, and phonology.
The description of morphology and syntax is followed by an extensive chrestomathy of 31 texts, giving the reader copies, transliterations, translations, and commentary of historical and royal inscriptions, legal texts, and administrative documents. The grammar is enriched by a syllabary and a sign list offering the readings and the Neo-Sumerian sign forms of the 243 signs attested in the chrestomathy and 30 noteworthy variants. An excursus on how Babylonians learnt Sumerian and a glossary conclude the volume.
dubsar 21, 2021
The papers collected in this volume originate from the workshop “Current Research in Early Mesopo... more The papers collected in this volume originate from the workshop “Current Research in Early Mesopotamian Studies” held in Paris on July 9th, 2019 at the occasion of the 65th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. The present volume brings together ten articles concerned with diverse aspects of the Early Mesopotamian documentation – i.e. texts dating to the Archaic, Early Dynastic (I–II, IIIa, IIIb), Sargonic, and Gutian periods, and extending geographically to include Ebla and its royal archives.
In 2009, Mario Liverani celebrated his 70th birthday and retired from teaching at the Sapienza in... more In 2009, Mario Liverani celebrated his 70th birthday and retired from teaching at the Sapienza in Rome, although his book Antico Oriente: Storia, società, economia remains in wide use and is still foundational for anyone studying the ancient Near East. The Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Archeologiche e Antropologiche dell’Antichità, where Mario Liverani was a leading specialist since the department’s inception, celebrated Liverani’s milestone birthday and retirement with a conference held in his honor, and this book publishes the papers that were read at the conference on April 20–21, 2009.
The title chosen for the conference was “Not Only History/Non solo storia,” which alludes to Liverani’s multiple interests and forays into the field of the ancient Near East and Egypt. A select group of scholars and colleagues was chosen to represent Prof. Liverani’s fields of interests, because it was impossible to include all of the Italian and international colleagues who could have been invited. Even so, the list of eminent contributors in the fields of ancient Near Eastern history, art, linguistics, and archaeology is more than adequate to recommend acquisition of this fine collection: John Baines (Oxford), Dominique Charpin (Collège de France), Joaquín María Córdoba (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Jerrold Cooper (Johns Hopkins), Jean-Marie Durand (Collège de France), Peter Machinist (Harvard), David Mattingly (University of Leicester), Piotr Michalowski (University of Michigan), Nadav Na'aman (Tel Aviv University), Nicholas Postgate (Cambridge), Johannes Renger (Free University of Berlin), Marc Van de Mieroop (Columbia University), Irene Winters (Harvard), and Norman Yoffee (University of Michigan).
Unpublished PhD dissertation in Assyriology submitted to Sapienza – Università di Roma and Friedr... more Unpublished PhD dissertation in Assyriology submitted to Sapienza – Università di Roma and Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degrees of Dottore di Ricerca in Filologia e Storia del Mondo Antico (Dr.Ric.) and Doctor Philosophiae (Dr.Phil.). Defended on November 20th 2017.
níĝ-ba dub-sar maḫ. Studies on Ebla and the Ancient Near East presented to Amalia Catagnoti (Documenta Asiana 14), 2024
Latin America houses only few cuneiform collections. In this vast part of the world, Ancient Near... more Latin America houses only few cuneiform collections. In this vast part of the world, Ancient Near Eastern studies are often seen as an exotic field, and teaching Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern History and Archaeology still poses many challenges for the specialist who ventures into these fascinating subjects. For this reason, the presence of a cuneiform tablet in a collection in Santiago de Cuba constitutes an exception rather than the norm. As such, it deserves particular attention, which would otherwise be difficult to justify. The following pages offer the edition of a new Neosumerian administrative account (including photos, the copy, and a commentary) and, most importantly, present a few comments regarding Cuban collections of Ancient Near Eastern antiquities.
Akkadica, 2023
In spite of its rare attestation in the available sources, animal naming was probably a common pr... more In spite of its rare attestation in the available sources, animal naming was probably a common practice in Mesopotamia. To date, twenty animals (cows and oxen mostly from OB texts) are known to have borne proper names. The present contribution highlights three new Neo-Sumerian attestations of named domestic animals (two cows and one female donkey), adding new elements to the discussion of animal naming in ancient Mesopotamia.
If interested in reading the full article, please email one of the authors.
Vivencia del arte. La colección de Arte de la Antigüedad de Francisco Prat Puig en Santiago de Cuba, 2023
Catalog entry of a Neosumerian administrative document in the Prat Puig collection in Santiago de... more Catalog entry of a Neosumerian administrative document in the Prat Puig collection in Santiago de Cuba.
Short proceedings of the fourth meeting of the Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Storia e Filologia... more Short proceedings of the fourth meeting of the Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Storia e Filologia del Vicino Oriente Antico (GRISeF-VOA) – Ricerche in corso (December 2nd 2022, online)
RIAHO. Revista del Instituto de Historia Antigua Oriental (nueva serie) , 2021
After a brief introduction to the concept of historical geography and to its application to Ancie... more After a brief introduction to the concept of historical geography and to its application to Ancient Near Eastern Studies, this article presents some thoughts on the historical geography of minor centers in the Early Dynastic Umma region. More specifically, the author analyzes the so far known information about the centers of Zabala, Ki'an, Dulum, and Kardaḫi during the reference time period, proving the importance of a historical geographical approach in the reconstruction of a complex, multi-layered economic and administrative panorama.
Current Research in Early Mesopotamian Studies. Workshop Organized at the 65th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Paris 2019. Dubsar 21, 2021
As the contributions in this volume show, Early Mesopotamia has recently received the renewed att... more As the contributions in this volume show, Early Mesopotamia has recently received the renewed attention of Assyriologists. This is also due to the generous amount of epigraphic material which has come to light in the last few decades. The publication of hundreds of texts has prompted the study of new socio-economic realities which have progressively assumed relevance in the general landscape of third millennium studies. Epigraphy, paleography, and diplomatics have also played an important role in the last years, and there has been increasing interest in the study of the metatextual features of older and newer corpora. A significant portion of these studies aims to produce new syllabaries and sign lists. The following pages disclose the making of one of these sign lists, presenting the ongoing work together with some preliminary results.
Current Research in Early Mesopotamian Studies. Workshop Organized at the 65th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Paris 2019. Dubsar 21, 2021
The aim of this brief article is to provide some quantitative data on newly published written sou... more The aim of this brief article is to provide some quantitative data on newly published written sources kept in major museums and private collections, as well as to offer an overview of the current state of research on the history and culture of third millennium Mesopotamia before the rise of the Ur III dynasty.
Sociedades Antiguas del Mediterráneo y América: aproximaciones desde el Sur. Actas de Jornadas Patagónicas de Estudios sobre Sociedades Antiguas (UNPA-UASJ) / I Jornadas Virtuales e Internacionales de Historia Antigua. Aportes Teóricos y Metodológicos en Tiempos de Pandemia (UNICEN), 2021
In 2019 F. Luciani and L. Rovira (Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina), S. Cháv... more In 2019 F. Luciani and L. Rovira (Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe, Argentina), S. Chávez (Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile), and C. Gonçalves (Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil) have been involved in a number of teaching projects based on the academic stay of A. Bramanti (at that time researcher of the Université de Genève) at several Latin American universities. The authors of these pages present here some of the reflections and thoughts originated from these experiences.
Assyriology is the field devoted to the reconstruction of the three millennia of history of the Ancient Near East through the study of the cuneiform sources. It was first conceived as an independent field of study in the middle of the 19th century in Europe and from there it spread to the United States. Many other countries in the world eventually developed their own traditions of study. Nevertheless, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Italy, and United States still play a significant role in the field and keep attracting students, researchers, research projects, and funding. Meanwhile, Latin American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, and Chile are slowly progressing in the development of their own traditions in Assyriology, using the exchange with international teachers and researchers as a tool. Until last year, such exchange has involved traditional face-to-face teaching. Starting from 2020 distance learning have been integrated in the exchange programs.
NABU: Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires, 2021
This article presents the evidence of the god dki-nu₂, the divine bed, through the analysis of th... more This article presents the evidence of the god dki-nu₂, the divine bed, through the analysis of third millennium onomastics and lexical lists. Later sources and the paleography of the sign NA₂ have also been taken into consideration.
Temas y problemas de historia antiguo-oriental. Una introducción, 2021
Cuneiform writing has always been studied by epigraphists and philologists. Nonetheless, cuneifor... more Cuneiform writing has always been studied by epigraphists and philologists. Nonetheless, cuneiform is indissolubly bound to the materiality of its texts, written on clay, stone, metal, precious stones and much more. This article represents a journey through the metatexuality of the oldest writing system in the world.
El cuneiforme es uno de los sistemas de escritura más longevos en la historia de la humanidad, con una tradición de más de tres milenios, desde finales del cuarto milenio a. C. hasta el primer siglo de la era común. Las siguientes páginas presentan brevemente los aspectos materiales del cuneiforme y se proponen proporcionar las primeras herramientas para una aproximación meta–textual al estudio de los documentos.
Oriens Antiquus Series Nova 2, 2020
Short proceedings of the conference "Roma ed il Vicino Oriente antico. Attuali ricerche romane di... more Short proceedings of the conference "Roma ed il Vicino Oriente antico. Attuali ricerche romane di Assiriologia" organized at the Swiss Institute in Rome on 17/01/2020.
This PDF contains the original manuscript of the author. If interested in reading the full article in its published version, please email me.
Economic Complexity in the Ancient Near East. Management of Resources and Taxation (Third – Second Millennium BC), 2020
This article presents and—where possible—investigates the first occurrences of taxation in the cu... more This article presents and—where possible—investigates the first occurrences of taxation in the cuneiform sources, with a focus on the Early Mesopotamian documentation—hailing grosso modo from the Early Dynastic and Sargonic Periods. The concept of taxation got explored and problematized according to the different resources to which it applies.
NABU: Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires, 2020
Short proceedings of a web conference on linguistic and cultural contacts in the Ancient Mediterr... more Short proceedings of a web conference on linguistic and cultural contacts in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East with a focus on Italy and Anatolia organized at the Swiss Institute in Rome on 25/06/2020.
After the Harvest. Storage Practices and Food Processing in Bronze Age Mesopotamia, 2020
The following article presents a group of forty land-grain accounts belonging to the so-called Ea... more The following article presents a group of forty land-grain accounts belonging to the so-called Early Dynastic Umma corpus (twenty-fifth to twenty-fourth century bc ). According to the format and to the prosopography, most of them are attributable to two types of administrative accounts and three dossiers and hail from the ancient cities of Umma and Zabala. One type of texts falls under the category of niĝ2-ka9 accounts. The two types of texts correspond to two different administrative moments, both related to the harvesting of the crops and therefore to the management of the arable land. Moreover, some of the subscripts allow for reconstructions of the activities related to specific households or fields and of their productivity.
If interested in reading the full article, please email me.
The Third Millennium. Studies in Early Mesopotamia and Syria in Honor of Walter Sommerfeld and Manfred Krebernik, 2020
The British Museum houses a small collection of six cuneiform tablets and a Palmyrene dedicatory ... more The British Museum houses a small collection of six cuneiform tablets and a Palmyrene dedicatory inscription purchased in 1987 from the private collection of Solomon Pottesman. The aim of the present contribution is to provide a catalog of this lot and an edition of the so far unpublished cuneiform texts. In the appendix, Alessio Agostini added the edition of the Palmyrene inscription, which would have otherwise gone beyond the capabilities of the present author.
If interested in reading the full article, please email me.
Current Research in Cuneiform Palaeography 2. Proceedings of the Workshop organised at the 64ᵗʰ Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Innsbruck 2018, 2019
Early Mesopotamia has recently received the renewed attention of Assyriologists due to the enormo... more Early Mesopotamia has recently received the renewed attention of Assyriologists due to the enormous amount of epigraphic material which has come to light from both scientific and illegal excavations of the last three decades. As a result of the sudden publication of hundreds of texts, Early Dynastic and Sargonic periods have assumed more relevance in the general landscape of third millennium Mesopotamia. This situation has prompted many socio-economic studies, particularly for the regions of Umma and Adab. Nevertheless, it is still difficult in many cases to draw a line which could separate these two contiguous geographical realities, particularly when Early Dynastic and Sargonic features appear to blend seamlessly into one another.
In this article, the concept of chronological and geographical liminality will be reconsidered, and palaeography will be used as a diagnostic tool to shed further light on the origin and date of the texts. Before testing this approach by analyzing a set of cuneiform signs, the reader is introduced to the Forschungsgeschichte of Early Mesopotamian palaeography, with particular focus on the regions of Umma and Adab.
Forma Urbis, 2018
Cuneiform writing has always been studied by epigraphists and philologists. Nonetheless, cuneifor... more Cuneiform writing has always been studied by epigraphists and philologists. Nonetheless, cuneiform is indissolubly bound to the materiality of its texts, written on clay, stone, metal, precious stones and much more. This article represents a journey through the metatexuality of the oldest writing system in the world.
____
Lo studio della scrittura cuneiforme è stato da sempre appannaggio quasi esclusivo di epigrafisti e filologi. Ciononostante, il cuneiforme presenta un legame indissolubile con la materialità dei testi, dapprima scritti su argilla e poi su pietra, metallo, pietre preziose e molto altro. Questo articolo rappresenta dunque un breve viaggio nella meta-testualità del più antico sistema di scrittura al mondo.
Kaskal, 2017
The scepter has always been a symbol of power and royalty within the social imagination, as well ... more The scepter has always been a symbol of power and royalty within the social imagination, as well as a concrete expression of the power of a preeminent individual upon the masses. It takes the form of a staff or a baton, embellished or not, of precious or modest materials. In many cultures of the ancient world it was a symbol of military power, sexual vigor, and the connection between heaven and earth, among other meanings. Ancient Near Eastern civilizations constitute no exception, conferring a pivotal role upon this object in, and beyond, the realm of power. What follows aims to investigate the meaning and the significance of the word for scepter in Early Mesopotamia (§3). For the better understanding of the reader, this is preceded by a brief introduction to the role of this object in the ancient Near East (§1) and to its lexicon in Mesopotamian literature (§2), and followed by a short iconographical note (§4). The conclusions (summarized in §5) highlight the broad usage of the logogram PA for “scepter” in Early Mesopotamia and endorse its reading ĝidru according to lexical sources and sporadic glosses. Moreover, a thorough analysis of the occurrences of this word in divine names, temple names, and personal names explicates the implications of the scepter not only as a symbol of power, but also as insignia of the office of the vizier and as a deified object worshipped in several regions of the southern Mesopotamia. The reader will find a complete table of the Early Mesopotamian attestations of the word ĝidru in the Appendix.
Journal of Cuneiform Studies, 2017
This article presents two land texts (allotments of field) and one grain text (barley loan) origi... more This article presents two land texts (allotments of field) and one grain text (barley loan) originating from Early Dynastic Zabala. The high year numbers allow for the attribution of these texts to the ensiship of Me'annedu. The edition is followed by a prosopographical study which, supported by paleographical considerations, provides some guidelines for the identification of more documents belonging to the same archive.
Pp. 295-312 in Early Dynastic and Early Sargonic Administrative Texts Mainly from the Umma Region in the Cornell University Cuneiform Collections. CUSAS 33. Ed. by P. Notizia, G. Visicato.
This appendix is the result of the joint effort of the two authors, and consists of a sketch ofth... more This appendix is the result of the joint effort of the two authors, and consists of a sketch ofthe paleography of the ED IIIb Umma region. It does not constitute a complete survey of the topic; rather it includes a selection of signs salient for the correct reading and interpretation of the texts edited herein. In order to provide diachronic continuity to our discourse, we chose to take into consideration the corpus of texts of
the ED IIIb Umma region, including the so-called archive of Lugalzagesi, i.e. the most recent Ummaite Pre-Sargonic group of texts. This work was made possible and considerably facilitated by the possibility of collating the great part of the texts discussed, either personally or by means of high-quality photographs.
The idea for this contribution originated from the practical need to distinguish pairs (or clusters) of signs sharing common features (e.g. AGRIG, GUL, and U3, GURUS and KAL), or to identify and describe peculiar signs (e.g. GIBIL and ZA7). The absence of a reference sign list also played a decisive role committing the authors to such an effort.
ERRATA CORRIGE misprint: the Neo-Assyrian inscription on the frontispiece of the book reads {I}A... more ERRATA CORRIGE
misprint: the Neo-Assyrian inscription on the frontispiece of the book reads {I}AN.ŠAR2-DU3-A MAN ŠU2 MAN KUR AN.ŠAR2{ki} (instead of {Id}AN.ŠAR2-DU3-A ŠU2 KUR AN.ŠAR2{ki}).
Poster and teaching activities in the frame of the "Semana de la Ciencia" at Universidad Complute... more Poster and teaching activities in the frame of the "Semana de la Ciencia" at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, November 2023.
Archeologia Viva, 2021
Covid-19 and pestilences in the ancient world. Unicuique pestis sua. This short article gives an... more Covid-19 and pestilences in the ancient world. Unicuique pestis sua.
This short article gives an overview of epidemics and pestilences in the Ancient Near East with a particular accent on the Hittite plague.
Mesopotamia. La cuna de la civilización (Muy Historia Golden 8. Edición Coleccionista), 2020
Popular science article in Spanish about the rise and fall of the Akkadian empire in the third mi... more Popular science article in Spanish about the rise and fall of the Akkadian empire in the third millennium BCE.
Mesopotamia. La cuna de la civilización (Muy Historia Golden 8. Edición Coleccionista), 2020
Popular science article in Spanish about the Sumerian civilization in the third millennium BCE.
ORTO - A publication conceived by Istituto Svizzero, 2020
A short story set in third millennium BCE Mesopotamia. The characters and the events of the story... more A short story set in third millennium BCE Mesopotamia. The characters and the events of the story are fictional but historically accurate, and are inspired by the information contained in hundreds of thousands of ancient cuneiform documents. The events might be more than four-thousand-years-old, but the passions and the struggles of the characters are still relatable.
Le Temps - Arts et sciences en Italie. Le blog de l'Istituto svizzero
Le Temps - Arts et sciences en Italie. Le blog de l'Istituto svizzero
Children booklet published on the occasion of the exhibition "Il Trono della Regina di Saba" at t... more Children booklet published on the occasion of the exhibition "Il Trono della Regina di Saba" at the National Museum of Oriental Art (MNAO) - Rome.
Practical workshop about Ancient Near Eastern civilizations, cuneiform writing, and clay tablets ... more Practical workshop about Ancient Near Eastern civilizations, cuneiform writing, and clay tablets (5 hours, Universidad Complutense de Madrid).
Instructors: Armando Bramanti, Ana Arroyo, Jaume Llop.
November 5th, 2024, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Geografía e Historia.
- Introductory course of Sumerian language (30 hours, Universidad Nacional de Rosario) - Introdu... more - Introductory course of Sumerian language (30 hours, Universidad Nacional de Rosario)
- Introductory course of Mesopotamian languages and literature (12 hours, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe)
- Prehistory of the Ancient Near East (4 hours, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe)
- Several activities and conferences (12 hours, Buenos Aires, Rosario, Santa Fe)
- Introductory course of Sumerian language (30 hours, Universidad de Chile, Santiago) - Introduct... more - Introductory course of Sumerian language (30 hours, Universidad de Chile, Santiago)
- Introductory course of Akkadian language (30 hours, Universidad de Chile, Santiago)
Introductory course (16 hours) of Sumerian language and cuneiform epigraphy. Universidad Nacion... more Introductory course (16 hours) of Sumerian language and cuneiform epigraphy.
Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) – Lima, Perú.
En este curso los alumnos aprenderán los cimientos de la lengua sumeria y de la epigrafía cuneiforme con particular enfoque en los textos de la tradición del tercer milenio a.n.e. A final del curso los alumnos podrán traducir del sumerio algunas frases simples y reconocer de forma activa y pasiva algunas docenas de signos cuneiformes con sus lecturas y significados.
Introductory course (30 hours) of Sumerian language. Lectures (16 hours), reading of cuneiform te... more Introductory course (30 hours) of Sumerian language. Lectures (16 hours), reading of cuneiform texts (14 hours). Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Máster propio "Orientalística y Egiptología" (MCOE).
En este seminario los alumnos aprenderán a trabajar con materiales cuneiformes a partir del objeto arqueológico hasta su publicación, con particular enfoque en los textos de la tradición en lengua sumeria del tercer milenio a.n.e. Objetivos del seminario serán el conocimiento introductorio de la epigrafía cuneiforme y de la lengua sumeria.
Actividades docentes (30 horas totales):
Clases teóricas: presentación de los conocimientos que los alumnos deben adquirir (16 horas, 8 sesiones).
Clases prácticas: ejercicios de epigrafía cuneiforme y gramática sumeria, lectura de textos cuneiformes a partir de reproducciones fotográficas y autografías (copias) (14 horas, 7 sesiones).
Lectures in the frame of the course of Ancient Near Eastern History (M. G. Biga) on social and ec... more Lectures in the frame of the course of Ancient Near Eastern History (M. G. Biga) on social and economic history in Early Mesopotamia (4th and 3rd millennium BCE)
Lectures in the frame of the course of Ancient Near Eastern History (M. G. Biga) on Babylon in th... more Lectures in the frame of the course of Ancient Near Eastern History (M. G. Biga) on Babylon in the 2nd millennium BCE.
- Introductory course of cuneiform studies (12 hours, Sao Paulo); - Introductory course of Sumeri... more - Introductory course of cuneiform studies (12 hours, Sao Paulo);
- Introductory course of Sumerian language (10 hours, Santiago);
- Several teaching activities (15 hours, Rosario, Santa Fe) and conferences (Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rosario, Santa Fe, Santiago)
Advanced course (30 hours) of Sumerian administrative texts in the third millennium BCE
Introductory course (40 hours) of cuneiform epigraphy and Sumerian language. Lectures (20 hours),... more Introductory course (40 hours) of cuneiform epigraphy and Sumerian language. Lectures (20 hours), reading of cuneiform texts (14 hours), cuneiform labs (6 hours).
En este seminario los alumnos aprenderán a trabajar con materiales cuneiformes a partir del objeto arqueológico hasta su publicación, con particular enfoque en los textos de la tradición en lengua sumeria del tercer milenio a.n.e. Objetivos del seminario serán el conocimiento introductorio de la epigrafía cuneiforme y de la lengua sumeria, y el desarrollo de la conciencia de la materialidad de los textos cuneiformes.
Clases magistrales: presentación de los conocimientos que los alumnos deben adquirir (20 horas, 10 sesiones).
Clases prácticas: ejercicios de epigrafía cuneiforme y gramática sumeria, lectura de textos cuneiformes a partir de reproducciones fotográficas y autografías (copias) (14 horas, 7 sesiones).
Talleres de técnica de escritura cuneiforme: copia de textos cuneiformes y reproducción de tablillas en arcilla (6 horas, 3 sesiones).
Call for papers for the workshop "Current Research in Third Millennium Studies" at the 69th Renco... more Call for papers for the workshop "Current Research in Third Millennium Studies" at the 69th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Helsinki (July 8th–12th, 2024)
International study day and round table on Current Lines of Research in the Ancient Near East org... more International study day and round table on Current Lines of Research in the Ancient Near East organized by Ana Arroyo, Armando Bramanti, and Jaume Llop. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, October 27th 2023.
Edit: due to health issues, the lecture of Andrés Piquer Otero has been substituted by a lecture by Armando Bramanti, The Scepter (gidru) in Early Mesopotamia.
International series of six lectures organized by Ana Arroyo, Armando Bramanti, and Jaume Llop on... more International series of six lectures organized by Ana Arroyo, Armando Bramanti, and Jaume Llop on behalf of the Máster Interuniversitario en Historia y Ciencias de la Antigüedad. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, March 3rd - April 1st, 2023.
International series of twelve lectures organized by Armando Bramanti and Alexander Johannes Edmo... more International series of twelve lectures organized by Armando Bramanti and Alexander Johannes Edmonds on behalf of ARWA - The International Association for Archaeological Research in Western and Central Asia. April 1st - July 1st, 2022.
This series of lectures seeks to explore the relationship between philological research and the reconstruction of Ancient Near Eastern history and cultures. By showcasing the methodologies of a wide and diverse range of scholars researching different cultures, geographical regions, and periods within Western Asia, these lectures trace the different routes by which researchers move from text to history. A transparent discussion of this process and of its many approaches is also necessary in communicating effectively with archaeologists and researchers from other fields, especially to foster vital future interdisciplinarity.
International hybrid conference on Ancient Near Eastern divination. Co-organized by Armando Brama... more International hybrid conference on Ancient Near Eastern divination. Co-organized by Armando Bramanti and Ignacio Márquez Rowe at the Swiss Institute in Rome, September 23rd and 24th 2020.
Free online streaming. To participate, please register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XFPUrYDaTsayX08Dxos26Q
Divination always played an important role in Ancient Near Eastern politics, daily life, and even economy. Far beyond being a mere mean to foretell the future, divination sets the standards for the interpretation of the known world. The interpretation of the omina, including every sort of natural or man-provoked phenomena, constitutes one of the main channels of communication between man and the supernatural forces which shaped the world, i.e. the gods. Hepatoscopy (liver inspection of offered animals), libanomancy (observation of incense smoke), lecanomancy (observation of the ripples of the water), physiognomics (interpretation of the outer appearance of a human body), celestial omina, and dream interpretation are only a few of the multifarious branches of divination thoroughly explored in the Ancient Near Eastern traditions.
Recent years have witnessed a renewed interest in ancient divinatory practices, which led to the development of several research projects in universities and research centers in Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, France, and other countries. The aim of this international conference is to bring together a representative group of specialists in the field of Ancient Near Eastern divination and to start a constructive multi-disciplinary dialogue. The conference covers a large geographic area including Mesopotamia, Syria, South Arabia, Anatolia and Egypt from the third millennium BCE to the Late Antiquity.
Web conference on linguistic and cultural contacts in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East wit... more Web conference on linguistic and cultural contacts in the Ancient Mediterranean and Near East with a focus on Italy and Anatolia. Organized at the Swiss Institute in Rome, 25/06/2020.
Tanto il mondo classico quanto quello vicinorientale sono stati a lungo panorama di innumerevoli contatti, incontri e scontri tra popoli diversi. Per millenni, genti di ogni sostrato e provenienza hanno abitato territori ricchi di storia e tradizioni in un continuo scambio linguistico e culturale. Tale scambio ha posto le basi necessarie per lo sviluppo di civiltà altamente evolute nonché fondanti del nostro mondo contemporaneo.
L’Italia nel mondo mediterraneo e l’Anatolia nel mondo vicinorientale costituiscono due casi di grande interesse al fine dell’analisi di questi contatti culturali. Durante l’incontro, due ricercatori affermati, esperti rispettivamente di ognuna di queste due macroregioni ed impegnati nello studio di fenomeni di contatto, si confronteranno al fine di stimolare una discussione interdisciplinare e future direzioni di ricerca.
Ciascun intervento sarà seguito da una sessione di domande e risposte. In seguito, gli organizzatori commenteranno i due interventi e modereranno una tavola rotonda conclusiva con la partecipazione del pubblico.
Conference organized at the Swiss Institute in Rome, 17/01/2020 Rome, and more generally Italy, ... more Conference organized at the Swiss Institute in Rome, 17/01/2020
Rome, and more generally Italy, boasts a glorious tradition of “Orientalism”. Sapienza – University of Rome has been among the first universities in Europe to embrace the “Oriental Studies” and, later on, Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) History, Philology, and Archaeology. Nowadays, the chair of Assyriology at Sapienza hosts numerous resident and visiting scholars, and several other Roman institutions equally contribute to the rich community of Italian experts in ANE Studies.
The aim of this conference is to bring together some representative scholars currently based in Rome and working on several aspects of the Ancient Near Eastern cuneiform documentation, in an attempt to provide a forum for dialog and cooperation. The active participation of a broader audience is not only welcome but also encouraged.
Abstract of a workshop presented at the 65th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Paris (July ... more Abstract of a workshop presented at the 65th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Paris (July 8th–12th, 2019)
The Third Millennium is arguably the most formative period in Mesopotamian History. Its historica... more The Third Millennium is arguably the most formative period in Mesopotamian History. Its historical and cultural processes lay the groundwork for the development of later Ancient Near Eastern civilizations. While Third Millennium text corpora may be broad and diverse, they often present similar problems that call for shared solutions. Unfortunately, the complex and fragmentary nature of the documentation is also known to attract less attention compared to later periods, leaving space for a new impulse in the field. This is the foreground of the organization of this session, the third in a series of thematic workshops on third millennium studies at the Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale – the first two were held in Paris 2019 and Leiden 2023.
After a reassessment of the current research in Third Millennium studies, the speakers will briefly present their original research as an introduction to the workshop. Armando Bramanti will present his current work on text editions, with particular regard to Latin American collections. Angela Greco will offer an overview of her research on the exploitation and management of natural resources in the southernmost Mesopotamian landscape. To conclude, Géraldine Mastelli will bring attention to a selection of Urukagina’s fish offering lists challenging the notion of ki-en-gi in Early Dynastic Sumer.
Location: 69th RAI, Helsinki. Event date: July 8-12, 2024
La Asiriología es el campo de estudio que investiga tres milenios de historia del Próximo Oriente... more La Asiriología es el campo de estudio que investiga tres milenios de historia del Próximo Oriente Antiguo a partir de los documentos cuneiformes y es, por lo tanto, una disciplina tanto filológica como histórica. Dicha disciplina se fundamenta en el estudio de textos en numerosos idiomas distintos como el sumerio, el acadio, el hitita y el elamita entre otros. Los especialistas en este campo no son más que unos cientos a nivel global: este dato sugiere que un número limitado de altas casas de estudios tiene la capacidad de garantizar para sus estudiantes una formación asiriológica, y menos son los centros que ofrecen programas de estudio completos en Asiriología y/o en Historia del Próximo Oriente Antiguo.
Pese a la existencia de una discreta tradición asiriológica española, la Asiriología no aparece como disciplina independiente en ningún programa docente universitario del país. La enseñanza de las disciplinas proximorientales está casi siempre confinada en cursos de Historia Antigua que reúnen Egipto y Próximo Oriente antiguos – cuando incluso no abarcan todas las antigüedades mediterráneas y proximorientales.
En esta ponencia el autor presentará su empeño docente en la Universidad Complutense de Madrid y el reto que presupone la enseñanza de la Asiriología en este contexto, planteando estrategias para el futuro, colaboraciones internacionales y proyectos de innovación docente.
Location: 2° Jornadas Patagónicas de Estudios sobre Sociedades Antiguas. Mesa 4: "Enseñar y divulgar. Abordajes de la Historia Antigua en la educación formal, no formal e informal". Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral (Argentina), August 29th – 31st 2023 (webinar).
In spite of its rare attestation in the available sources, animal naming was probably a common pr... more In spite of its rare attestation in the available sources, animal naming was probably a common practice in Mesopotamia. To date, twenty animals (cows and oxen mostly from OB texts) are known to have borne proper names. This talk highlighted three new Neo-Sumerian attestations of named domestic animals (two cows and one female donkey), adding new elements to the discussion of animal naming in ancient Mesopotamia.
Location: 68th RAI, Leiden. Event date: July 17-20, 2023
In this presentation I offered an overview of the Spanish academic career. I presented the differ... more In this presentation I offered an overview of the Spanish academic career. I presented the different job opportunities in universities and research centers, with a particular focus on regional and national funding bodies offering postdoc research grants and contracts.
Location: “IV Convegno dei Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Storia e Filologia del Vicino Oriente Antico (GRISeF-VOA) – Ricerche in corso”, Workshop: Opportunità postdoc in Italia ed all’estero, online conference, December 2nd 2022.
https://griassiriologia.wordpress.com/286-2/
https://griassiriologia.wordpress.com/workshop-opportunita-postdoc-in-italia-ed-allestero/
In this paper I presented a new interpretation of a well-known Early Dynastic royal inscription (... more In this paper I presented a new interpretation of a well-known Early Dynastic royal inscription (RIME 1.14.20.1) suggesting the identification of one of the earliest Mesopotamian divinatory rituals.
Location: “IV Convegno dei Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Storia e Filologia del Vicino Oriente Antico (GRISeF-VOA) – Ricerche in corso”, online conference, December 2nd 2022. https://griassiriologia.wordpress.com/286-2/
Durante el 2019 A. Bramanti, L. Rovira y F. Luciani fueron protagonistas del programa de “Interna... more Durante el 2019 A. Bramanti, L. Rovira y F. Luciani fueron protagonistas del programa de “Internacionalización de los Espacios Curriculares en Carreras de Grado de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral” (Santa Fe, Argentina). Dentro de este programa hubo la posibilidad de desarrollar el proyecto “Acercamiento a las fuentes cuneiformes y materiales: experiencias de lectura, dificultades de acceso y metodologías de trabajo a distancia”. En los últimos meses algunas de estas palabras, como dificultades de acceso y trabajo a distancia, se han llenado de nuevos significados y han entrado con prepotencia en las vidas de todo investigador y estudiante. Sin embargo, no son éstos asuntos novedosos para la mayoría de los asiriólogos e historiadores del Próximo Oriente Antiguo. La asiriología, la disciplina que estudia tres milenios de historia del POA a partir de sus fuentes cuneiformes, se fundó en Europa a mediados del siglo XIX y desde allí se difundió pronto en los Estados Unidos. Desde entonces muchos otros países en el mundo – y dentro de estos la Argentina – desarrollaron sus propias tradiciones de estudios, siendo países como Alemania, Francia, Italia y EEUU ejes innegables que siguen atrayendo estudiantes, investigadores, proyectos de investigación y entonces capitales.
Esto justifica la desigualdad de los distintos espacios curriculares en diferentes países y delata los obstáculos a que algunos de ellos se enfrentan a partir de las idiosincrasias de la disciplina asiriológica. La superación de dicha desigualdad no debería residir en otra ola de colonización cultural llevada por una internacionalización unidireccional, sino más bien en la cooperación entre los que fueron los centros y las periferias, hacia una descentralización de los saberes.
En esta ponencia se presentarán el origen y el desarrollo del programa de internacionalización de la UNL desde el punto de vista de las dos partes involucradas en el proyecto. También se presentarán otras experiencias de cooperación en la enseñanza asiriológica, tanto presenciales como virtuales, en otros centros de educación universitaria y terciaria de Argentina, Brasil y Chile, delineando un mapa estructural de exigencias, problemas y soluciones comunes, hacia el desarrollo de nuevas metodologías de enseñanza para una descentralización académica.
Location: Jornadas Patagónicas de Estudio sobre Sociedades Antiguas. Mesa 4: Problemáticas de la Enseñanza de Historia Antigua en el Nivel Universitario y/o Superior. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia Austral (Argentina), October 27th – 28th 2020 (webinar).
After administrative texts, divinatory and mantic texts constitute one of the best represented cu... more After administrative texts, divinatory and mantic texts constitute one of the best represented cuneiform textual corpora in the entire ancient Near East. Future-telling practices involving, among others, the observation of animal behavior and incubation are attested since the earliest moments of Mesopotamian history. Nevertheless, most of the sources for the study of Mesopotamian divination are written in Akkadian and date to the second and first millennium BCE. Only a limited number of documents can help the modern reader to shed light on divinatory practices in the third millennium Sumerian world.
In this paper the authors will reassess the evidence coming from lexical, administrative, and literary sources in an attempt to unveil part of the mystery surrounding divination at the beginning of Mesopotamian history.
Location: “If a city is situated on seven heights…” Current insights into Ancient Near Eastern divination, webinar at Istituto Svizzero di Roma. Event date: September 23rd - 24th, 2020.
Sign lists are some of the most basic tools for Assyriological work. The methods of the early 20t... more Sign lists are some of the most basic tools for Assyriological work. The methods of the early 20th century have advanced, and with a steady increase of new texts available for study, palaeographical research is attempting to orient itself as an objective scientific method. This is an ongoing process, wherein we are reassessing what questions we should be asking, as well as what can successfully be answered. In this talk Armando Bramanti will present the ongoing work and the preliminary results of his current research project on the paleography of the Early Dynastic Umma Region, showing its potentialities and highlighting the critical issues in the creation from scratch of a cuneiform syllabary and sign list. Drawing on her recent experiences compiling a new sign list for the Fāra tablets, Emily Zeran will then speak on the question of “Is Script an Artefact?” with the aim of promoting a discussion of the potential for sign lists to be used as relative dating tools, and the data collection methodologies thus required.
Location: 65th RAI, Paris. Event date: July 8-12, 2019
Toward a Syllabary and a Sign List of the Early Dynastic Umma Region After its decipherment in... more Toward a Syllabary and a Sign List of the Early Dynastic Umma Region
After its decipherment in the middle of the 19th century, cuneiform came to be, together with its numerous recently discovered inscriptions, the object of intense attention on the part of both scholars and the general public. The first Old Persian and Neo-Assyrian monumental findings triggered the compilation of several sign lists, some of them still in use today. The discovery of older cuneiform archives, some of them dating to the end of the fourth and to the first half of the third millennium, made new approaches to cuneiform epigraphy and the compilation of new repertoires of signs necessary.
After almost a century and in spite of its limited chronological and geographical scope, Deimel’s Liste der Archaischen Keilschriftzeichen (LAK, 1922) is still the standard sign list used for the Early Mesopotamian texts. In recent years the discovery of hundreds of new texts in several southern Mesopotamian regions compelled cuneiformists to create new tools for the epigraphic study of this material.
In this talk I will present the ongoing work and the preliminary results of my current research project on the paleography of the Early Dynastic Umma Region, showing its potentialities and highlighting the critical issues in the creation from scratch of a cuneiform syllabary and sign list.
La lingua dei sumeri
by Franco D’Agostino, Gabriella Spada, Angela Greco, Armando Bramanti
XIV + 338 pages (Italian)
Hoepli, Milan (March, 2019)
ISBN: 978-88-203-8073-1
34,90€
www.hoeplieditore.it/8073-1
Third volume of the series “Lingue antiche del Vicino Oriente e del Mediterraneo” (directed by Franco D’Agostino) after La lingua di Babilonia (Franco D’Agostino, Maria Stella Cingolo, Gabriella Spada) and La lingua dell’antico Egitto (Emanuele M. Ciampini).
La lingua dei Sumeri is the first grammar of Sumerian written in Italian. It is designed as a companion both for the classroom and for self-tuition. The grammatical reconstruction is mostly based on documents from the Second Dynasty of Lagash and the Third Dynasty of Ur (ca. 2140 – 2000 BCE) and is preceded by a thorough description of the historical context, cuneiform script, and phonology.
The description of morphology and syntax is followed by an extensive chrestomathy of 31 texts, giving the reader copies, transliterations, translations, and commentary of historical and royal inscriptions, legal texts, and administrative documents. The grammar is enriched by a syllabary and a sign list offering the readings and the Neo-Sumerian sign forms of the 243 signs attested in the chrestomathy and 30 noteworthy variants. An excursus on how Babylonians learnt Sumerian and a glossary conclude the volume.
Location 1: 4th BAF (Berner Altorientalisches Forschungsforum), Bern 11-12/06/2019
Location 2: Les fouilles à Tell Jokha (Umma). Découvertes archéologiques et philologiques, Geneva 06/07/2019
II Incontro dei Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Storia e Filologia del Vicino Oriente Antico. Spa... more II Incontro dei Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Storia e Filologia del Vicino Oriente Antico. Spazio umano e spazio divino: pensare e gestire la spazialità nel Vicino Oriente Antico.
In this paper I present a few considerations on the paleography of third millennium texts with a focus on some neo-sumerian variants.
Abstract:
Il panico di fronte alla pagina bianca è probabilmente una sensazione che accomuna molti studiosi moderni ad alcuni scribi mesopotamici. Molti documenti cuneiformi, redatti con cura al fine di non lasciare disarmonici spazi vuoti, mostrano chiaramente come l’horror vacui fosse un problema sentito già nel terzo millennio prima dell’era comune. La disciplina che studia questo e molti altri aspetti meta-testuali dei documenti prende il nome di diplomatica o grafotattica, e solo recentemente inizia a ricevere la giusta attenzione nel campo degli studi cuneiformi.
Tra i numerosi elementi di questo campo di studi si annovera la paleografia. L’osservazione della disposizione dei tratti cuneiformi all’interno dello spazio di scrittura mostra ad un primo colpo d’occhio differenze macroscopiche che da sempre guidano lo studioso nell’identificazione dei segni, condizionando dunque l’approccio epigrafico. La paleografia studia invece le differenze più sottili che, seppur di scarso interesse epigrafico, sono in grado di fornire informazioni altrimenti non più accessibili data la rilevante lontananza cronologica e culturale del lettore moderno. Finanche minime discrepanze nell’orientamento, nelle misure lineari o nel numero dei cunei sono in grado di mostrare quanto l’atto della scrittura possa tradire molto dell’identità dello scriba.
La disamina di alcune varianti relative alla documentazione del terzo millennio mostrerà dunque la potenzialità dell’approccio diplomatico e paleografico ai testi cuneiformi, fornendo risultati in grado di influenzare lo studio propriamente filologico in ambito assiriologico.
Location: Sapienza - Università di Roma. Event date: February 21-22, 2019.
In 1922 A. Deimel published his Liste der Archaischen Keilschriftzeichen, commonly known as LAK. ... more In 1922 A. Deimel published his Liste der Archaischen Keilschriftzeichen, commonly known as LAK. After almost a century, this is still the standard sign list for Early Mesopotamian texts. In recent years, the corpus of Early Dynastic and Sargonic documents has increased enormously, especially after the publication of hundreds of tablets deriving from the neighboring regions of Umma and Adab.
Due to these circumstances, there is renewed interest in the compilation of sign lists and syllabaries of third millennium cuneiform – some works have been announced and their publication is expected in the next years, as in the case of Early Dynastic Ebla (P. Paoletti) and Early Dynastic Fara (E. Zeran). Some first preliminary modern studies of Early Mesopotamian paleography have been already produced by, among others, M. Such-Gutiérrez, M. Maiocchi (Adab), A. Bramanti, and P. Notizia (Umma). The growing interest in the field of cuneiform paleography was also endorsed by the organization of recent international workshops (60th RAI – Warsaw, 64th RAI – Innsbruck) and symposia (Leiden 2009).
Within this framework, and following in the footsteps of the available literature, it is time to reconsider the concept of chronological and geographical liminality in the third millennium, in an attempt to answer the following question: to what extent is paleography a diagnostic tool for shedding further light on the origin of a text? The corpus of documents from the regions of Umma and Adab provide a case study to test the potentiality of this approach, while navigating along the placid banks of the Tigris on a voyage from the Early Dynastic to the Sargonic times.
Location: 64th RAI, Innsbruck. Event date: July 16-20, 2018
Agricultural activities constitute the most import sector of the ancient Mesopotamian economy. Th... more Agricultural activities constitute the most import sector of the ancient Mesopotamian economy. They are largely represented in the cuneiform sources, and the Early Dynastic Umma corpus is no exception. Within this corpus, barley accounts are the most attested textual category with several hundred texts. The typology of these accounts is multifarious and includes, among others, rations, deliveries, regular offers, loans, payments, and animal fodder.
39 of these accounts exceptionally associate field plots with amounts of barley and can be grouped under the modern category of “land-grain texts”, whereas ancient scribes rather referred to them as niĝ2-ka9, “balanced accounts”. Most of them deal with expended (e3-a), measured out (aĝ2-ĝa2), or left over (la2-ux) barley and are attested in three well-defined dossiers.
The results of the analysis of this remarkable corpus will shed new light on cereal growing and distribution in EBA Southern Mesopotamia, and provide a better understanding of the chaine opératoire of food production and administration.
Location: 11th ICAANE, Munich. Event date: April 3-7, 2018
I Incontro dei Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Assiriologia. Obiettivi e prospettive di ricerca. ... more I Incontro dei Giovani Ricercatori Italiani di Assiriologia. Obiettivi e prospettive di ricerca.
In this paper I present a synthesis of the results of my doctoral dissertation "Land Management in the Early Dynastic Umma Region: The Case of the Archive of Lugalzagesi" submitted in 2017 to Sapienza – Università di Roma and Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.
Location: Università di Verona, Dipartimento di Culture e Civiltà.
Event date: March 1-2, 2018.
The conference paper offers an overview of the Reallexikon der Assyriologie and of the problems c... more The conference paper offers an overview of the Reallexikon der Assyriologie and of the problems connected with its future digitization.
Location: Universität zu Köln - Workshop "Intelligente Verschlagwortung"
Event Date: Oct 9, 2017
The past few years have seen an increasing interest in Early Dynastic texts from the Umma region.... more The past few years have seen an increasing interest in Early Dynastic texts from the Umma region. This is mostly due to the publication of several hundred new documents, which have greatly enriched the ED IIIb Umma corpus.
The distribution of geographical names in this corpus provides valuable information not only about the mere geography of this southern Mesopotamian region, but also about its history, chronology, and administration. The analysis of the occurrences of cities and settlements in the administrative accounts provides an idea of the economic horizon of Umma, suggesting the extent of its political significance. A survey of the field names reveals internal archival connections and allows the identification of more specific groups of texts from within the corpus. The observation of the activities connected to the major buildings such as temples and palaces supports a better understanding of the socio-economical structure of the territory, which otherwise would remain unclear.
The results of such analysis will contribute to put another small piece of the larger jigsaw puzzle of the historical geography of southern Mesopotamia, in an attempt to answer to the same long-asked questions: where did they live and what did it look like?
An analysis of a dossier of metals and metal workers in the archive of Lugalzagesi from ED IIIb Z... more An analysis of a dossier of metals and metal workers in the archive of Lugalzagesi from ED IIIb Zabala
Two lectures held at Sapienza - Università di Roma (October 14th 2016) and at VIU - Venice Intern... more Two lectures held at Sapienza - Università di Roma (October 14th 2016) and at VIU - Venice International University (October 21st 2016).
The scepter has always been in the social imaginary a symbol of power and royalty, a concrete and material expression of the power of a preeminent individual upon the masses. It always takes the form of a staff or a baton, more or less embellished or decorated, of precious or daily materials.
The scepter assumes a central role also in the Mesopotamian literature, being in most cases part of the royal insignia of sovereigns and gods. This lecture aims to investigate the role of the scepter and the realm of the word ĝidru in Early Mesopotamia from the age of the ED IIIb archives of Fara to the Sargonic reign of Šarkališarri. In order to reach this goal, 267 occurrences of the word ĝidru were collected, surveying literature, royal and dedicatory inscriptions, lexical texts, legal and administrative archival documents. The results include not only evidence of the lexeme per se, but also of the scepter as a part of divine names, temple names, and personal names.
In 1922 Anton Deimel published his Liste der Archaischen Keilschriftzeichen, commonly known as LA... more In 1922 Anton Deimel published his Liste der Archaischen Keilschriftzeichen, commonly known as LAK. After almost a century, this is still the standard sign list for Early Dynastic Mesopotamia. In recent years, the corpus of ED documents has increased enormously, especially after the publication of hundreds of tablets stemming from the Umma region. Nevertheless, no systematic study of the paleography of these new texts has been conducted so far, and a comprehensive sign list and syllabary are still a desideratum.
In this paper we will survey the repertory of signs employed in the ED Umma tablets, trying to distinguish pairs (or clusters) sharing common features. Moreover, we will identify and describe peculiar sign forms according to their morphology. Philological remarks will be offered, together with other relevant diagnostic meta-textual features such as script, size and shape of the tablets, layout of the text, and presence of non-textual markers.
In this way, we intend to approach paleography as a useful tool for improving the edition of these texts, and for setting documents within a relative chronological framework. The general lack of research tools has played a decisive role in committing us to such a study, which will hopefully pave the way for future research on the paleography of the ED tablets from the Umma region.
• Begründung der Arbeit • Materialien und Werkzeuge • Formaten und Größen • Wie liest man eine To... more • Begründung der Arbeit • Materialien und Werkzeuge • Formaten und Größen • Wie liest man eine Tontafel? Vs. und Rs., Kolumne und Zeilen, Leerraum, Reihenfolge der Keilen • Metatextuelle Eigenschaften • MS 3796 versus MS 3810: zwei gegenüberstellte Tafeln • Ein Überblick über die Paläographie von FD Umma • Schlussfolgerung
In 1976 M. A. Powell published in OrNS 45 “Evidence for Local Cults at Presargonic Zabala”, a bri... more In 1976 M. A. Powell published in OrNS 45 “Evidence for Local Cults at Presargonic Zabala”, a brief overview of the pantheon of one of the most important southern Mesopotamian cult centers of Inanna. After almost 50 years, a larger corpus of ca. one thousand Early Dynastic archival documents from the Umma region provides an invaluable research tool for investigating the religious panorama of Umma, Zabala and the other minor centers in their environs.
Royal inscriptions and later literary texts (e.g. Temple Hymns and Götterreisen) allow a unique point of view among the grand bulk of administrative texts, suggesting directions and guidelines for further research. The recent excavations of the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage and their reports also provide some preliminary data on the layouts and the cultic function of the major temples of the area.
During my presentation I will show how the combined use of all these sources allows a preliminary reconstruction of the variegated Early Dynastic Ummaite pantheon, populated by several minor deities besides the city-gods of Umma and Zabala, respectively Šara and Inanna.
Invited lecture in Spanish about Sumerian religion between elites and masses: cult, propaganda, a... more Invited lecture in Spanish about Sumerian religion between elites and masses: cult, propaganda, and onomastics in the third millennium BCE. Universidad del Pais Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibersitatea, Doctorado en Ciencias de la Antiguedad.
Vitoria, 24/10/2024, 11:00 a.m. CET. Online access through Microsoft Teams: https://lc.cx/uxUw6P
Invited lecture in Spanish about daily and intellectual life in ancient Mesopotamia. Universidad ... more Invited lecture in Spanish about daily and intellectual life in ancient Mesopotamia. Universidad de Chile (Santiago de Chile), 25/08/2023.
A menudo pensamos en las civilizaciones del pasado como entidades monolíticas y bidimensionales, como un conjunto de seres sin profundidad cuyas vidas transcurrían en un hiperuranio, un mundo de puras ideas, constantemente preocupados por temas inalcanzables como religión y más allá.
La realidad de los hechos es muy distinta: las civilizaciones mesopotámicas – como cualquier otra del mundo antiguo – se caracterizan por ser extremadamente parecidas en muchos aspectos a la nuestra. Se trata de gente común y corriente que se preocupaba por temas muy mundanos como llegar a final de mes, las simpatías y antipatías personales, los amores y las pulsiones sexuales, las creencias populares y mucho más.
En esta conferencia se explorará la vida cotidiana e intelectual de las civilizaciones de la antigua Mesopotamia a través de sus textos, el testimonio más importante de un pasado tan lejano. Gracias a ellos se revelará un mundo hecho de agricultores, artesanos y toda clase de trabajador y también de escribas, de letrados e intelectuales que necesitaban formarse en escuelas especializadas y gremios intelectuales. Además, se descubrirán varios géneros literarios y se reflexionará sobre un tema cuya complejidad depende sobre todo de nuestro pensamiento como seres humanos contemporáneos: ¿se puede hablar de filosofía antes de la filosofía?
Invited lecture about the Akkadian language and its semitic context. Universidad Nacional del Lit... more Invited lecture about the Akkadian language and its semitic context. Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe (Argentina), 25/11/2022
Invited lecture about the Sumerian language and the cuneiform script. Universidad Nacional del Li... more Invited lecture about the Sumerian language and the cuneiform script. Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe (Argentina), 4/11/2022
Invited lecture about the rediscovery of the Ancient Near East and the future of its studies. Uni... more Invited lecture about the rediscovery of the Ancient Near East and the future of its studies. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Tandil (Argentina), 21/04/2022.
Online invited lecture at the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (IHAC) of the No... more Online invited lecture at the Institute for the History of Ancient Civilizations (IHAC) of the Northeast Normal University (Changchun, China).
Until the end of the 20th century, little was known about the Early Dynastic phases of Umma, one of the most important cities of third-millennium lower Mesopotamia. Most information proceeded from the royal inscriptions of the neighboring city of Lagash, and from a small corpus of little more than one hundred administrative accounts.
In the last 20 years, this corpus has grown by more than ten times in size. These documents, together with new archaeological fieldwork, have not only enabled a reassessment of the Early Dynastic Umma region, but also contributed to a better understanding of Early Mesopotamia as a whole.
This lecture will present the field’s state of the art, and will suggest avenues for further research within history, administration, and paleography.
Join zoom information:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83348894878?pwd=dWd0VWo2NnlLZi92ODM2Mm91bmJVUT09
Meeting-ID: 833 4889 4878
pw: 836087
Event date: 28/03/2022, h. 11:30 am Central European Time / h 5:30 pm Chinese Time
Invited lecture about current research in Assyriology between history and philology. Universidad ... more Invited lecture about current research in Assyriology between history and philology. Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Santa Fe (Argentina), 25/06/2021
Invited lecture about administration and administrative texts in Early Mesopotamia. Universidad ... more Invited lecture about administration and administrative texts in Early Mesopotamia.
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 26/04/2021.
Public online lecture in Spanish on the management of resources and taxation in Early Mesopotamia... more Public online lecture in Spanish on the management of resources and taxation in Early Mesopotamia. Presentation of the textual corpora of Early Dynastic and Sargonic Mesopotamia and of the documents hinting at various forms of taxation.
Online streaming at: https://youtu.be/znN-ngcdvSE
More information at: https://www.ucm.es/titulospropios/ecoe/modulos-abiertos
Event date: 22/04/2021, h. 12:15 Central European Time (UTC+01:00)
Online invited lecture in Spanish at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, UNMSM (Lima, Peru)... more Online invited lecture in Spanish at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, UNMSM (Lima, Peru).
"The linguistic panorama of ancient Mesopotamia: Sumerian, Akkadian, and cuneiform script".
Desde el comienzo de su historia, Mesopotamia ha sido un lugar de confluencia de pueblos distintos, cada uno con sus propias etnias, culturas e idiomas. Por esa razón Mesopotamia, y en general el Próximo Oriente Antiguo, es el primer ejemplo de multiculturalidad y multilingüismo de la historia del género humano y su estudio es de fundamental importancia para la comprensión de los procesos históricos de los milenios sucesivos. En esta conferencia se abordará el tema de la complejidad lingüística de la antigua Mesopotamia por medio de una introducción a la historia y a las características principales del sumerio y del acadio, los dos principales idiomas hablados en esta región durante tres milenios de historia. A conclusión se presentarán unos conceptos básicos para entender el rol de la escritura cuneiforme en la historia mesopotámica y en el desarrollo de su panorama lingüístico.
To participate, please send an email to / Para participar y registrarse:
iniciativaestudiosglobales@gmail.com
Event date: 22/03/2021, h. 9:00 pm Central European Time (UTC+01:00) / h 3:00 pm Peru Time (UTC-05:00)
Online talk in Italian on materials and tools used by the Mesopotamian scribes with two research ... more Online talk in Italian on materials and tools used by the Mesopotamian scribes with two research insights on the cuneiform stylus and on the role of paleography in the reconstruction of history.
Online streaming: more information at https://www.athenanova.it/cuneiforme-materiali-e-strumenti-primi-scribi-dellumanit%C3%A0/
Event date: 21/01/2021, h. 9:15 pm Central European Time (UTC+01:00)
Lezione introduttiva alla geografia storica nel Vicino Oriente antico. Nel corso della lezione sa... more Lezione introduttiva alla geografia storica nel Vicino Oriente antico. Nel corso della lezione saranno fornite le basi teoriche per uno studio della geografia storica e saranno analizzati tre esempi nella Mesopotamia del terzo millennio a.e.c.
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Historical geography is a relatively recent field of study which has increasingly gained the attention of geographers, historians and other scholars in the last decades. As for the cuneiform studies, monumental projects such as the Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients and the Répertoire Géographique des Textes Cunéiformes inaugurated the modern study of Ancient Near Eastern historical geography a few decades ago and were followed by abundant literature. Nevertheless, the intrinsic nature of the relatively young cuneiform studies, the constant new archaeological discoveries, and a thriving antiquity market give cause for regular updates. This lecture will present the situation of the field and an overview of the third millennium BCE.
Sapienza - Università di Roma, 4/11/2019
Corso di Storia del Vicino Oriente antico (M.G. Biga)
Two lectures on the materiality of cuneiform and on the geographical history of the ANE in the 3r... more Two lectures on the materiality of cuneiform and on the geographical history of the ANE in the 3rd millennium BCE held at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
De la arcilla, de la piedra y de otras historias. Algunas reflexiones acerca del concepto de materialidad en la escritura cuneiforme. 21/05/2019. En esta conferencia se presentarán algunos de los aspectos más materiales de la escritura cuneiforme. Después de introducir el contexto histórico y geográfico en el que se desarrollaron las civilizaciones que utilizaron el cuneiforme como sistema de escritura, se explorará el concepto de conciencia nativa del cuneiforme, los materiales, y los soportes de escritura empleados en el Próximo Oriente Antiguo. La definición de epigrafía, diplomática y paleografía permitirá dos reflexiones acerca de la materialidad del cuneiforme, es decir de la posibilidad de reconstruir las herramientas de escritura y de la utilidad de la paleografía en el trabajo del historiador.
A través del tiempo y del espacio. Una aproximación a la geografía histórica del Próximo Oriente Antiguo en el tercer milenio a.n.e. 22/05/2019. En esta conferencia se definirá el concepto de geografía histórica en relación a la noción de Próximo Oriente Antiguo a partir de la historia de sus estudios. El análisis de las metodologías de investigación y del contexto histórico y geográfico del tercer milenio a.n.e. servirán de introducción para presentar tres casos de estudio con respecto al horizonte de referencia: Ebla (en Siria), Fara y Umma (en la Mesopotamia meridional).
Main results of the doctoral dissertation "Land Management in the Early Dynastic Umma Region: The... more Main results of the doctoral dissertation "Land Management in the Early Dynastic Umma Region: The Case of the Archive of Lugalzagesi" and presentation of the ESKAS research project "Toward an Early Dynastic Paleography: a Sign List of the Administrative Texts from the Umma Region".
Colloque de recherche WT 2018 / 2019, Université de Genève, October 10th 2018.
Two lectures held at Sapienza - Università di Roma (May 3rd 2016) and at Univerzita Karlova v Pra... more Two lectures held at Sapienza - Università di Roma (May 3rd 2016) and at Univerzita Karlova v Praze (April 26th 2016).
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Over the last decades more than 800 cuneiform objects found their way to the Eternal City and are nowadays kept in several major and minor public and private collections. Innumerable tourists and ANE enthusiasts had the pleasure to see the literary tablets in the Vatican Museums, and many scholars rediscovered interest in Early Dynastic administration thanks to the monumental collection of Banca d’Italia. Nevertheless, Rome hides many other cuneiform wonders, and some of them were left behind until recent times.
The National Museum of Oriental Art in Rome houses a tiny collection of seven diverse cuneiform artifacts. This lecture provides an opportunity to rediscover these objects and to illustrate their historical context and geographical provenance. Elamite language, Neo-Babylonian history, and collectors of antiquities will be among the discussed topics. Moreover, an unpublished text of the collection will be presented here for the first time, and will give the chance to introduce one of the most well-known and attested Mesopotamian class of objects.
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Durante gli ultimi secoli più di 800 oggetti cuneiformi sono giunti in vari modi nella Città Eterna, e sono oggigiorno ospitati in numerose collezioni pubbliche e private di varia entità e dimensioni. Innumerevoli turisti ed amatori del Vicino Oriente Antico hanno avuto il piacere di ammirare le tavolette letterarie dei Musei Vaticani, e molti studiosi hanno riscoperto l’interesse per l’amministrazione protodinastica grazie alla monumentale collezione della Banca d’Italia. Cionondimeno, Roma nasconde molte altre meraviglie cuneiformi, ed alcune di esse sono state trascurate fino a tempi recenti.
Il Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale “G. Tucci” di Roma ospita una piccola collezione di sette oggetti cuneiformi di varia natura. Questo seminario sarà l’occasione per riscoprire questi oggitti, illustrandone il contesto storico e la provenienza geografica. Tra gli argomenti discussi figureranno l’elamico, la storia neo-babilonese ed il collezionismo di antichità. Sarà inoltre presentato per la prima volta un testo inedito della collezione, dando l’opportunità di introdurre una delle classi di oggetti mesopotamici più famosi ed attestati.
1982 veröffentlichte B. R. Foster in „Umma in the Sargonic Period“ eine Sammlung von 487 Texten, ... more 1982 veröffentlichte B. R. Foster in „Umma in the Sargonic Period“ eine Sammlung von 487 Texten, die am Anfang 20. Jahrhundert in Jokha ausgefunden wurden. Diese Arbeit gab Aufschluss über zahlreiche Aspekte des Wirtschaftslebens und der internationalen Beziehungen einer der prominentesten Provinzen in sargonischer Zeit.
Trotz Fosters Arbeit ist noch sehr wenig über die Region Umma in frühdynastischer Zeit bekannt, mit Ausnahme der durch lokale Texte belegten vereinzelten Daten und der Quellen aus der verfeindeten Stadt Lagasch, dessen Geschichte mit Umma unentwirrbar verknüpft ist.
In diesem Vortrag werde ich durch die Darstellung der archäologischen und philologischen Quellen, die sich für die Region Umma in frühdynastischer Zeit bestimmen lassen, einen Überblick über die Situation geben. Felderverwaltung, Religion und Paläografie werden unter die Schwerpunkte des Vortrags sein.
In 1982 B. R. Foster published “Umma in the Sargonic Period”, a collection of 487 texts from unof... more In 1982 B. R. Foster published “Umma in the Sargonic Period”, a collection of 487 texts from unofficial excavations at Jokha during the first decades of the 20th century. This work shed light on several aspects of administrative life and international relations of a prominent province within the Sargonic empire. Nevertheless, little is known even today about the territory of Umma in the Early Dynastic period, with the exception of some scattered information provided by some local archives and the Lagashite sources. In fact, Lagash was the principle competitor of Umma in a long-lasting territorial conflict, memorialized on one of the most famous monuments of the ancient world, the Stele of Vultures. Thus, the history of these two bordering cities appears to be inextricably tied together. In this lecture, I will take stock of the current situation in this field, presenting the primary sources for a historical reconstruction of Early Dynastic Umma, and outlining the main issues in the study of land administration and of the cultic panorama of this region.
A presentation of the latest research on the materiality of the cuneiform tablets, leading to a r... more A presentation of the latest research on the materiality of the cuneiform tablets, leading to a reconstruction of a model of cuneiform stylus through iconography and palaeography.
In 1982 B. R. Foster published “Umma in the Sargonic Period”, a collection of 487 texts from unof... more In 1982 B. R. Foster published “Umma in the Sargonic Period”, a collection of 487 texts from unofficial excavations at Jokha during the first decades of the 20th century. This work shed light on several aspects of administrative life and international relations of a prominent province within the Sargonic empire.
Nevertheless, little is known even today about the territory of Umma in the Early Dynastic period, with the exception of some scattered information provided by some local archives and the Lagashite sources. In fact, Lagash was the principle competitor of Umma in a long-lasting territorial conflict, memorialized on one of the most famous monuments of the ancient world, the Stele of Vultures. Thus, the history of these two bordering cities appears to be inextricably tied together.
In this lecture, I will take stock of the current situation in this field, presenting the primary sources for a historical reconstruction of Early Dynastic Umma, and outlining the main issues in the study of land administration and of the cultic panorama of this region.
Textual States: Writing, Ideology and Administration in Mesopotamia and Other Ancient Civilizatio... more Textual States: Writing, Ideology and Administration in Mesopotamia and Other Ancient Civilizations. Lecture of Prof. Gonzalo Rubio (Pennsylvania State University) with responses by Armando Bramanti (Sapienza - CSIC) and José Ramón Pérez-Accino (UCM). Lecture and responses will be followed by a round table on early writings and societies.